6 People Arrested After Stealing Money Using SNAP Benefits

A lot of people in Texas are struggling these days. Inflation, overall cost of living, everything is rising. Sure, we could all use a little help without question. Money isn't going as far as it used to.

However, there are others out there struggling than most of us. Some who are scraping to make ends meet. That's why we have things like SNAP and TANF. People that are doing what they can to make money for their families, but need a little help and assistance along the way.

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I know of several people who've had SNAP benefits before, here and in other states. It's not that they're trying to bite off the state, they just needed a little push to help get over the hump. That's what it's designed for.

Sadly, there are people who misuse these benefits and potentially ruin it for everyone. I've seen people being bold enough to post on Facebook in groups saying they'll use their SNAP card for people that need groceries, and they can give them cash in exchange for them. That's illegal, you can't do that.

In El Paso recently, six people were arrested and another was processed for suspected trafficking of EBT/SNAP benefits.

What was happening was there was a store that was allowing SNAP recipients to cash in on their cards. They would go into the store, and they would process redemptions for cash at half the value.

In other words, they would use the card for what it was intended for, and whatever amount they used the card for, they'd get half that value back in cash from the store. So use $200 in benefits, receive $100 in cash in exchange.

Hate to break it to ya, but this is theft. The theft amounts of the six people arrested were $5807, $3595, $4821, $5084, $5643, and the big whopper, $44,475.

All the cases have been turned over to the El Paso County DA's office and the six arrested have been recommended for prosecution. For more info on the SNAP program and if you qualify for it, watch the video below.