Featured Image Credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Topics: US Food
Ben Williams
On a busy stretch of Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, Boston, convenience stores line the road much like they do in neighbourhoods across the US: compact, tightly stocked, and built for quick purchases.
To regular passers-by, there was little to distinguish two such shops operating side by side, their shelves stacked with dry goods and everyday essentials. However, behind the counters, federal investigators say, something was seriously amiss.
According to court filings, both stores were repeatedly flagged after authorities noticed SNAP redemption figures that appeared wildly out of step with their size, stock, and equipment. One shop measured roughly 150 square feet and lacked features common to legitimate grocery retailers, including refrigeration, optical scanners, baskets, or shopping trolleys.
Despite this, millions of dollars in food assistance benefits were allegedly processed through its tills over several years.
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The discrepancies prompted closer scrutiny. Investigators carried out months of surveillance and undercover operations, monitoring customer behaviour and tracking transactions. Footage allegedly showed shoppers leaving the premises with little or no food, even after SNAP purchases worth hundreds of dollars. In some instances, officers reported that no customers were seen carrying groceries consistent with the amounts charged to benefit cards.
Reported by People, the two store owners have now been charged in connection with what authorities describe as a long-running SNAP ‘benefits trafficking’ scheme involving more than $7 million in fraudulent redemptions.
Antonio Bonheur, owner of Jesula Variety Store, and Saul Alisme, who operates Saul Mache Mixe Store, are accused of illegally exchanging SNAP benefits for cash: a practice known as ‘benefits trafficking’.
Prosecutors allege that, between 2021 and 2025, Bonheur’s store alone redeemed more than $6.9 million in SNAP benefits, with a significant number of transactions exceeding $150. Comparable stores in the same postcode averaged around $16,000 per month.
Alisme’s store, which began accepting SNAP benefits in May 2025, allegedly followed a similar pattern on a smaller scale, with investigators estimating more than $121,000 in suspicious redemptions within just a few months.
The case relies heavily on undercover transactions carried out between June and October 2025. In one alleged exchange on 22 October, Bonheur processed $140 in SNAP benefits in return for $100 in cash, while selling a malt alcoholic beverage: an item prohibited under SNAP rules. In a separate 16 October transaction, Alisme is accused of exchanging $120.55 in benefits for $100 in cash after selling small quantities of flour and donated food products.
Those donated items, known as MannaPacks, are produced by the nonprofit Feed My Starving Children and intended exclusively for humanitarian aid overseas. Their appearance on retail shelves raised further red flags for investigators.
Bonheur is also accused of fraudulently applying for SNAP benefits himself in 2022, allegedly claiming zero income while failing to disclose his ownership of Jesula Variety Store. Authorities say he then redeemed those benefits almost entirely at his own business.
Both men are currently charged with a single count of food stamp fraud involving transactions over $100 but under $5,000. Prosecutors say the charges represent only a fraction of the alleged conduct outlined in the investigation, which was conducted jointly by the USDA Office of Inspector General and the FBI. Neither defendant has entered a plea, and the case remains pending in the US District Court in Massachusetts.