Two Brownsville women have been sentenced to federal prison for illegally purchasing cheese, pinto beans, coffee and instant mash potatoes. They committed food stamp fraud, federal court documents reflect.
Authorities said Ana Rioja, 51, of Brownsville, and Maria Consuelo de Ureno, 55, a legal permanent resident of Brownsville, committed $1.2 million in food stamp fraud.
Rioja and Ureno appeared Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera Jr. who sentenced Rioja to 30 months in federal prison and one year of supervised release, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas stated in a media release. Ureno was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and three years of supervised released. Ureno could also lose her legal status in the U.S. and face removal proceedings following her release from prison.
Rioja and Ureno were also ordered to pay $975,401 and $1,284,282.15, respectively. They pleaded guilty May 12, 2021 to conspiring to commit and committing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud.
According to the release, beginning in February 2016, the investigation revealed Ureno, Rioja and other co-conspirators exchanged SNAP benefits for cash by using a point of sale device at Border Meats, a local meat market Rioja owned. Additionally, authorities said they discovered Ureno and co-conspirators conducted fraudulent transactions at Sam’s Wholesale Club.
Rioja and Ureno were accused of retaining 33 percent of the dollar amount used in the transactions in exchange for reduced amounts of cash.
The investigation discovered 715 fraudulent transactions that were linked to 83 unique SNAP benefit recipients which conspirators redeemed for cash or food. Ureno’s fraudulent purchases totaled to approximately 49.1 tons of American cheese slices, 22.3 tons of pinto beans, 1.6 tons of Folgers coffee, 1.4 tons of instant mashed potatoes and over 5,000 gallons of mayonnaise which she would sell to a partner and transport to Mexico.
Between September 2014 and August 2019, both Rioja and Ureno conducted approximately $1.2 million in fraudulent transactions, the release said.
Ureno has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future. Rioja was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender at a date to be determined in the near future.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation.
