DETROIT — Last week three Arab men from the Detroit area were charged with felony counts amounting to $262,000 in food stamp fraud operations at Schaefer Dollar Mania, a store located on Schaefer Rd in the west side of Detroit. This news echoes a story The Arab American News ran last month regarding Food Stamp fraud in the local community.

Store Owner Dani Mohamed-Kama Itani, 37, of Canton, and his two employees, Hassan Raychoini, 54, of Dearborn Heights, and Raed Youseff, 22, of Dearborn, face charges of racketeering, conspiracy and food stamp fraud. They were attained by the Michigan State Police on March 7 in a joint effort with the Michigan State Bridge Card Enforcement team and the U.S Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General. The three men were arraigned at the 36th district court in Detroit on March 8. A preliminary examination has been scheduled for March 20.  

The allegations date back to January 2011 and run through September 2011, where the store owner and two of his employees allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bridge card purchases towards items that didn’t qualify under the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program. These items include clothing, electronics and jewelry.    

If the men are found guilty, they can face up to 20 years in prison for racketeering, another 20 years for conspiracy, and an additional 10 years for Food Stamp Fraud over $1,000.

“Food stamp fraud is theft from Michigan families who are struggling to put food on the table,” said Attorney General Bill Schuette, who was responsible for charging the men. “We will continue to work with law enforcement across the state to find and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse.”

As we reported, Bridge Card abuse seems to be coming from all ends of the spectrum. Not only have some merchants engaged in practices that include accepting non food items on a bridge card, but there have even been anonymous reports of store owners buying food stamps in exchange for money as well. 

Loopholes within the Bridge Card system have also resulted in plenty of cases where individuals who aren’t supposed to be eligible for such benefits,  find ways to abuse the system entirely.

An employee who works for the Department of Human Services and is responsible for dealing with cases in awarding food and medical benefits on a daily basis, spoke anonymously about some frustrations with Bridge Card Abuse.

“You would be shocked at the people that I know in the community that have these food stamp cards,” the employee stated. “People that own businesses and have really fancy cars, they are not only cheating welfare, they are cheating the IRS.” 

The employee states that just because they have an Arab background and work for the Department of Human Services, it doesn’t mean the employee can help others in the community cut a break with the government. 

“When I tell people what I do, a lot of them ask me for help. They think that I can just award anyone I want with welfare benefits,” the employee stated. “That’s far from the truth. I don’t even get to choose my cases. They are put on my desk and those are the ones I’m responsible for,” the employee added. 

According to the employee, many individuals have mastered some of the loopholes within the benefit system, which includes making money under the table and not reporting it or using someone else’s social security number.

“We approve and deny people on a daily basis, but it’s nothing personal. Basically it’s based on their income and assets. Everything they tell us, we ask them to provide proof of,” the government employee added.

The employee went on to state that they aren’t afraid to deny people who are not qualified for food benefits, because those benefits should be saved for individual or families that really need the resources.

“In the beginning, I used to feel bad about rejecting people, but then you become desensitized. A lot of these people feel they are entitled to these benefits,” the employee stated.  “Someone in my position does have the opportunity to help those who are really in need.”

The employee says they’ve come across several cases that included claims of fraud since they started working for the department.  

“If you are a worker for that case, you basically launch an investigation, and you have them sign forms stating that they are not lying,” the employee added. “After that, a number of possibilities can occur depending on how severe the fraud is.”

These possibilities can include lighter punishments such as minimizing the benefit amount, recouping the amount that was awarded to the individual or even garnishing money from wages without the individuals consent. Prison is also a possibility if it is established that the individual was intentionally participating in fraud.  The employee did note that there are lots of false claims of fraud however.

“We get a lot of those calls where it’s an angry ex just trying to get revenge on her boyfriend or ex husband,” the employee stated. “If it’s substantiated that they are not committing fraud they can keep their benefits.”

Anyone that wants to report any suspicion of fraud or abuse can call the Michigan Hotline at 1-800-627-9977.