Criminal Defense Lawyers

HRA Food Stamps Investigations

Food Stamp Trafficking Fraud has taken root in the American society, and it can entirely be blamed on the fact that people often need money to settle different bills in life, rather than food that is typically provided by the SNAP program. Additionally, those in possession of money find it possible to engage in various activities unlike those who are in possession of the SNAP proceeds.

Therefore, most people have devised ways of ensuring that they can be able to exchange the SNAP merchandise for cash. Such an action is considered to be illegal by the United States Department of Agriculture, and various stipulations have been enacted to try and curb this run away menace that tends to rob billions of dollars from the taxpayer. Apart from the loss of finances, food stamp trafficking has become dangerous as those who benefit from the program tend to exchange their share for ammunitions and drugs, thereby, making it much more challenging to control the flow of such substances in the economy.

While everyone is trying to put an effort to achieve more in life through whatever means possible, some of the methods that are being used by other individuals are considered to be illegal and punishable by law for those who are found to be guilty. The inception of the Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) was primarily meant to help the less fortunate in the society meet their nutritional requirements, as the rate of unemployment in the United States had risen to the point that measures had to be taken to ensure that equality was successfully is infused into the economy.

The USDA was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that those who have signed up for the program are able to receive their fair share of snap proceeds. Convenience stores, on the other hand, were signed up by USDA to help in the efforts of reaching as many people as possible in the society.

However, the convenience store owners ended up designing methods that would help them to acquire more money by exchanging what had been issued to them for cash. Retailer Food Stamp Fraud is considered to be a severe case under the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 as it tends to bring an imbalance into the economy through the introduction of corruption. The Human Resource Administration (HRA) is tasked with the responsibility of undertaking investigations into persons who are considered to be participating in food stamp fraud.

The institution is under the Bureau of Fraud Investigations, and the convenience store owners who are frequently investigated are those who are suspected to be participating in Food Stamp Fraud. Investigators who are associated with the bureau are located in different cities within the United States, but they have their headquarters at Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn, NY.

The participation by any individual in the crime is considered to be punishable, and the slightest suspicion that may be tied to involvement in the vice automatically calls for the in-depth investigation from the HRA department. The HRA office first sends a letter to the retail store or a person indicating the requirements that are supposed to be fulfilled. Most importantly, the administration demands documents such as bank statements, personal identification credentials such as the driver’s license or birth certificate, tax documents, utility bills, and letters from particular institutions indicating the size of a household.

Scrutiny is important as it helps to shed light on the activities that the culprits under investigation may have undertaken. After submission of the required documents, a face to face interview may be necessary, but it majorly depends on the severity of the matter. If the HRA department has the slightest evidence that an individual may have participated in the crime, then an interview will be due for full disclosure of information as documents that had previously been submitted may have been altered.

It is important to note that the investigations may not only be made on retail store owners, but also on individuals who had signed up for the Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program. People are known to participate in the crime widely as it is usually not very easy to get hold of them unlike it is for the businesses that are involved in the activity.

Before the request of different documents by the institution, the HRA department usually undertakes intensive investigations into the accounts of persons suspected to have intentionally falsified information during the application process. Therefore, the HRA requests for a person’s bank printouts, Food Stamp Application Forms, and any other documents associated with a person’s Social Security Number, which is further used to prove the existence or absence of errors.

The objective of the investigators is typically directed towards finding any forms irregularities on matters associated with the size of family, income earnings, and any other crucial information that might have been left out. Sometimes they go a step further and even obtain information from a person’s employer in the case that they are investigating individuals with the target of proving that their income size does not qualify them to be enlisted under the snap program.

Before undertaking an interview, individuals are supposed to carry original copies of all documents that had initially been requested by the HRA. The manner of attendance is usually optional as a person might decide to attend the session alone or in the company of a legal officer. During the interview, the culprit is shown the documents that are believed to have been falsified and the evidence that has been unearthed for that particular matter. A person is usually given a chance to contest the findings of the investigations and explain if they are true or false.

The HRA normally presents convenience store retailers with an opportunity to select either a suspension of their license or get fined for participating in Food Stamp Fraud. However, once the interview is complete, and an individual is found to be guilty of the charges, the next step is a court process in which the jury is tasked with the responsibility of making a final decision based on the opinion of the culprit. In most cases, voluntary payment of the damages is considered to be the best option as it always ensures that the permit is not terminated.