FLORIDA WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO DEFRAUDING NEW YORK CITY SNAP RECIPIENTS

 

Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”), issued a statement on the guilty plea of a Florida woman charged with engaging in a years-long scheme to defraud at least 120 low-income New York City residents out of nearly $50,000 in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”), which provides low-income individuals with electronic benefits that can be used like cash to purchase food. DOI conducted this investigation with the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the case. 

GUYATREE SINGH, 51, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was charged by indictment in August 2023 with one count each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The defendant pled guilty to both of these charges before U.S. District Judge Jed. S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The defendant’s sentencing is scheduled for April 4, 2024.

DOI Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “The criminal conduct that the defendant acknowledged at this guilty plea victimized vulnerable members of our community who depend on public benefits to buy groceries and other essentials. I thank HRA for referring this matter to DOI, and our law enforcement partners in the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York for their commitment to hold accountable those who engage in public benefit fraud.  

According to the indictment, between April 2019 and May 2023, SINGH engaged in a scheme to defraud at least approximately 120 SNAP recipients – a majority of whom appeared to be elderly – of their SNAP benefits. In total, SINGH defrauded the victims of approximately $49,754.52 in benefits. SNAP recipients receive an electronic benefits transfer (“EBT”) card, which looks like a debit card and gives a person access to his or her SNAP benefits. SINGH called SNAP recipients and pretended to be a New York State employee working for SNAP; then asked the victims for their personally identifiable information, including their dates of birth and social security numbers. Unbeknownst to the victims, SINGH then used this information to reset the personal identification numbers (“PINs”) on their EBT cards. Once the PINs were reset, SINGH used the victims’ EBT account numbers and new PINS to make purchases for herself at grocery stores in Florida using the victims’ SNAP funds.

DOI Commissioner Strauber thanked U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Sowlati, in the Office’s General Crimes Unit, who is in charge of the prosecution. Commissioner Strauber also thanked New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, whose agency oversees the New York City Human Resources Administration (“HRA”), which referred the matter to DOI.

At DOI, the case was investigated by Confidential Investigator Daniel Malvey and Investigative Auditor Tina Zhou, and was supervised by Assistant Inspector General Alexandra Davie, Deputy Inspector General Jeremy Reyes, Inspector General John Bellanie, Director of Audits Laila Jane Yu, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.