A Macon store clerk was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay back $5.1 million as part of a fraudulent food stamp scheme.
Michael Paul Atkinson Jr., 37, was given a five-year prison sentence with three years of supervised release, Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney John Horn said in a release Wednesday.
“The defendant used the food stamp program as an ATM,” Horn said. “Food stamps provide needed assistance to the most vulnerable citizens in our society. Schemes like these unfortunately divert critical resources away from the people who need them most.”
Atkinson pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the release. SNAP is the federal food stamp program.
From 2010-15, Atkinson paid SNAP recipients cash to use their benefits at his store, Midway Market in Macon, and allowed them to purchase non-benefits-eligible items, according to the release. Atkinson also taught workers how to process fraudulent claims.
The SNAP program paid more than $5.1 million to Midway Market.
According to the release, Atkinson used money from the fraud to purchase his home, which has been forfeited.
“The American tax system is designed to provide vital government services to our people,” Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent Veronica Hyman-Pillot said in the release. “Every dollar that Atkinson diverted through fraudulent and criminal activity is a dollar taken away from a child in need or a vulnerable adult.”
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