A Pembroke Pines, Florida woman faces charges of stealing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from about 200 people.
Deputies with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office arrested Tamica Brown, 43, and charged her with criminal use of personal identification and trafficking in counterfeit credit cards.
Prosecutors say Brown used EBT cards stolen from some of South Florida’s most vulnerable residents. She is accused of targeting SNAP recipients over an eight-month period.
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One of the victims, 95-year-old Angela Liriano, said her EBT card was declined while she was shopping at a local grocery store. “I was really in need,” Liriano said. “They really hurt me.”
She said the process to restore her funds was long and stressful. It took about a month before she could buy groceries again.
Investigators say Brown used the stolen funds to buy Gatorade and energy drinks, such as Red Bull, in bulk from a wholesale store. She then sold the Gatorade and energy drinks to corner stores for cash.
About 200 SNAP recipients suffered a total loss of $120,000.
“SNAP is a federally funded program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Food and Nutrition Service,” Broward Sheriff spokeswoman Claudinne Caro said in a news release.
Caro said it’s unclear how Brown stole the EBT card numbers and associated PINs.
“Evidence indicated that these card numbers were stolen by unknown means and transmitted to Brown electronically by way of phones.”
Brown is being held at the Paul Rein Detention Facility on $300,000 bond.
