The news of a couple being jailed for possessing mayonnaise and cheese is noteworthy. Ana Rioja and Maria Consulo de Ureno, from Brunswill, Texas, are currently serving prison sentences. The two were arrested for illegally acquiring cheese, mayonnaise and tons of other food items.
The fraud has been going on for five years. During this time the couple handed out SNAP food stamps issued only to low-income families for food at a local market called ‘Border Meats’. Both made at least 713 illegal transactions using SNAP food snaps of hundreds of other customers.
The $ 1.2 million food stamp fraud was committed. Both pleaded guilty in court. Many of the food items were smuggled in and sold and smuggled across the U.S. border. They smuggled 49.1 tonnes of American cheese slices, 22.3 tonnes of pinto beans, 1.6 tonnes of foliarge coffee, 1.4 tonnes of specialty potatoes and 5,000 gallons of mayonnaise.
Subsequently, in September 2016, the Homeland Security Investigation and the Department of Agriculture launched an investigation. It took the department years to find all the details of the scam. Rioja and Di Ureno were both sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty. Rioja was sentenced to 30 months in prison and Ureno to 37 months in prison with three years’ probation.