James L. Santelle, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced today that John S. Williams (age: 33) of Fox Point, WI pled guilty to a single count information charging him with unlawfully purchasing and redeeming Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly referred to as food stamps.
According to the charging document, Williams doing business as John Henry Distribution, LLC (JHD) became a licensed vendor of the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which enabled Williams to redeem QUEST cards. QUEST cards are the Electronic Benefit Transfer cards that replaced food stamp coupon booklets. Williams was classified as a mobile vendor and operated out of his private vehicles. Between August 2010 and January 2013, Williams redeemed approximately $778,000 in QUEST benefits from food stamp benefit recipients who were not purchasing food, but instead receiving cash for providing access to their QUEST benefits.
The maximum penalty for this offense is 20 years imprisonment, $250,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release. This case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture- Office of Inspector General and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
