A Massachusetts restaurant operator was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for a scheme that used more than 100 stolen identities to collect food assistance and pandemic unemployment benefits worth more than $1.1 million.
Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 38, of Fitchburg, used fraudulently obtained Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to buy food for El Primo Restaurant in Leominster, according to a Justice Department press release. Proceeds from the scheme were later sent to people in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and other locations.
U.S. District Judge Margaret R. Guzman imposed the sentence in Worcester and ordered Fernandez Vicioso to serve three years of supervised release after prison. She also ordered $1.1 million in restitution and a separate $1.1 million forfeiture judgment.
Fernandez Vicioso pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit SNAP fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, SNAP benefit fraud, aiding and abetting, and money laundering.
The scheme involved $440,000 in SNAP benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, along with more than $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits from several states, prosecutors said.
Investigators found that stolen personal information had been purchased and used to apply for food assistance under the names of more than 100 people. The applications grouped those people into 24 supposed households and listed all of them as living at just two apartments in Providence, Rhode Island.
The identities belonged to people from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico. Fernandez Vicioso also used his own information to establish fraudulent SNAP accounts alongside those created with victims’ identities, according to prosecutors.
To support the applications, participants allegedly submitted photographs of fake passports and passport cards. Investigators examined the files’ metadata and determined that the photographs had been taken at or near El Primo Restaurant.
Participants allegedly took the benefit cards to wholesalers and food markets, where they bought large packages of chicken, beef, pork, and other food for the business. The restaurant then sold meals made with those supplies, avoiding the food costs it otherwise would have paid.
Money generated through the scheme was subsequently wired overseas, including to recipients in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, prosecutors said.
The unemployment fraud involved a separate set of applications filed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between April 2020 and December 2021, participants allegedly submitted false applications and supporting records to collect more than $700,000 through the PUA program. The Justice Department identified Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington, and Nevada as states affected by that part of the scheme.
At least 29 identities were allegedly used for unemployment applications across six states. Those applications listed El Primo Restaurant as the applicant’s home address, according to prosecutors.
Some applications used Fernandez Vicioso’s name. Others used the identities of suspected identity theft victims, including people whose information also appeared in the SNAP applications.
Investigators traced approximately $276,021 in fraudulent unemployment payments to bank accounts held in the names of Fernandez Vicioso, El Primo Restaurant, and other alleged participants.
Fernandez Vicioso was charged Feb. 3 alongside Roman Vequiz Fernandez, 32, and Coralba Albarracin Siniva, 24, both Venezuelan nationals living in Leominster, and Joel Vicioso Fernandez, 42, of Fitchburg.