Atlanta Man Sentenced for Supplemental Food Voucher Fraud

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An Atlanta man who pleaded guilty to charges of theft of public funds for abusing a program designed to helped pregnant women and their children meet their nutritional needs has been sentenced to federal prison for his crimes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced Thursday afternoon.

Michael E. Benton, 56, owned ”Healthy Oasis,” a food store in Griffin. Healthy Oasis became an authorized Georgia Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program vendor in 2009. Georgia WIC vouchers are given to low-income pregnant women and mothers of young children who are at risk of nutritional deficits. Georgia WIC vouchers are turned in to Georgia WIC vendors, who supply the family with approved foods and “cash” the voucher like a check, getting payment from the state.

In 2010, complaints arose that Benton was buying Georgia WIC vouchers off of program participants instead of exchanging them for food. During an undercover investigation that lasted from January to September of 2010, Benton and another employee acting on Benton’s orders bought at least 117 Georgia WIC vouchers from undercover agents. Healthy Oasis’ vendor authorization was cancelled shortly thereafter.

Investigators cross referenced Georgia WIC records and Healthy Oasis’ bank account and discovered that Benton had cashed hundreds of thousands of dollars more in Georgia WIC vouchers than similar sized stores in similarly-populated areas during the same time period.

Benton pleaded guilty on June 6, and was sentenced on Thursday to serve 41 months in federal prison and an additional three years on probation by U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten, Sr. Batten also ordered Benton to pay $1,422,902.70 in restitution to the Georgia WIC program.

“Individuals such as Michael Benton continue to think that the fraud perpetrated by them against Agriculture programs, such as the EBT and WIC program, will go unnoticed and unprosecuted,” Karen Citizen-Wilcox, SAC, United States Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, said in a statement,

“USDA-OIG is committed to working with its partners at the Georgia Department of Human Resources, local police departments like the Griffin Police Department, and DOJ to ensure that individuals like Mr. Benton continue to be prosecuted and sentenced to prison for defrauding both the programs meant to help people and the tax payers who fund such programs.”