United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Jenny Espinal Tejada, a 34-year-old resident of Philadelphia, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. The sentence was handed down by United States District Court Judge Joshua D. Wolson. In addition to the prison term, Espinal Tejada is required to pay $1,841,402 in restitution and forfeit the proceeds from her offenses related to defrauding the U.S. government.

Espinal Tejada faced charges last July through a superseding indictment and pleaded guilty in October to one count of wire fraud and one count of defrauding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

According to court documents, Espinal Tejada admitted using her corner grocery store in Philadelphia to redeem SNAP benefits without proper authorization. She misappropriated merchant identification numbers assigned to legitimate stores participating in SNAP, allowing her to bypass program rules. Furthermore, she traded benefits for cash within her store.

"Espinal Tejada sought to profit illicitly from the SNAP program, diverting nearly $2 million of the USDA’s money," stated U.S. Attorney Romero. "On behalf of the folks who rely on these resources every day — and the taxpayers who fund the programs — we and our partners will continue to prosecute abuses like this and ensure that those who commit them are held appropriately accountable."

Charmeka Parker, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG), remarked, "SNAP was created to provide food and nutrition to those who truly need this assistance. This joint investigation identified those who sought to profit from SNAP through illegal schemes."

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, and the FBI. Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Abrams prosecuted the case.