MA Restaurant Owner Used 100 Stolen Identities To Steal $440K In SNAP Benefits, USAO

WORCESTER, MA — The owner of a Spanish restaurant in Central Massachusetts pleaded guilty in Worcester on Wednesday for his role in a scheme that used stolen identities to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in SNAP benefits.

Raul Fernandez Vicioso, a 37-year-old Fitchburg resident and owner of El Primo Restaurant in Leominster, was accused of working with others to use the stolen identities of more than 100 people to get $440,000 in SNAP benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts.

Vicioso and co-conspirators were accused of then using the money to buy expensive bulk food items to stock El Primo Restaurant at no cost, according to the USAO.

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He and his alleged co-conspirators, one Fitchburg man and two Venezuelan nationals living in Leominster, were charged in 2023. The group was also accused of receiving over $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits from multiple states, including Massachusetts.

The USAO reported that Vicioso and his co-conspirators purchased and used the stolen personal information of more than 100 real people from multiple states to fraudulently obtain SNAP benefits.

The group then created 24 "households" in SNAP applications and listed them as living in two single-family apartments in Providence, Rhode Island, the USAO said.

Vicioso used his personal information to create SNAP benefit accounts and provided images of fake passports and passport cards with metadata indicating they were taken in the vicinity of El Primo Restaurant, according to the USAO.

The eatery at 1025 Central St. is now closed, according to its Google listing.

The USAO said the money was used to buy large quantities of expensive bulk food items to stock El Primo Restaurant for free and sell menu items at a complete profit. The defendant also later wrote the fraud proceeds to individuals living in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, according to the USAO.

On Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit SNAP Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, SNAP benefit Fraud, Aiding and Abetting and Money Laundering; and is scheduled for sentencing in July.

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