Two Atlantans have been sentenced for defrauding the federal food stamp program of nearly $400,000.
Prosecutors said Thursday that $800,000 of SNAP benefits were deposited into the bank accounts of Jonathan and Stephanie Dupiton. Investigators were only able to link about half of that amount to 321 fraudulent accounts.
The judge sentenced 28-year-old Jonathan Dupiton to three years and nine months in prison and gave Stephanie Dupiton, 24, a sentence of six months.
They used two stores they owned in Cobb County to get the benefits.
Their indictment lays out how they got the money.
The duo got clearance in 2014 and 2015 for their convenience stores, J. Good Groceries in Mableton and Stephanie’s Groceries in Austell, to accept SNAP benefits from customers.
They then used stolen customer information to get SNAP cards mailed to them at addresses throughout metro Atlanta, and used the hundreds of cards to make fraudulent purchases.
“These defendants stole unsuspecting people’s identities, used those identities to fraudulently acquire EBT cards, and misused thousands of dollars worth of SNAP benefits to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers,” said Karen Citizen-Wilcox, an agent with the federal agriculture department who investigated the case.
Each was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in April after pleading guilty. Jonathan Dupiton was also convicted of aggravated identity theft.
Both of them were sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $395,388.01 in restitution.
