ARRESTS
• Steven E. Mueller, 61, of Fairfield
• Joseph Raymond Gray, 34, of Fairfield
• Jeffrey C. Knab, 58, of Cincinnati
• Andrie Lamarr Scott, 22, of Cincinnati
• Francis E. Racicot IV, 32, of Cincinnati
• Rici Lynn Hopkins, 25, of Cincinnati
• Christopher Doane, 29, of Cincinnati
• Scott Andrew Traum, 45, of Cincinnati
• Joey Lightcap-Traum, 43, of Cincinnati
• Dalton Andrew Traum, 19, of Cincinnati
• Keith Blankenship, 35, of Loveland
• Gregory M. Brown, 35, of Cincinnati
• Jordan A. Kaiser, 22, of Fairfield
• William N. King, 22, of Fairfield
The owners and employees of two Fairfield businesses arrested in a large federal, state and local food stamp fraud bust were arraigned in U.S. District Court in Dayton on Thursday afternoon and are awaiting further hearings on multiple charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and drug dealing.
The 18-month undercover investigation found taxpayers have been bilked out of more than $2 million that was supposed to be part of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, for low-income residents.
“We’ve had food stamp fraud happening with meat truck drivers that have been exchanging food stamp SNAP benefits for cash, drugs,” said Agent Harold Torrens, of the Ohio Investigative Unit. “This investigation has netted over approximately $2 million worth of fraud over the last 18 months.”
That’s about 40 percent of the $5.3 million lost to SNAP fraud in Ohio during 2014. The nationwide loss is estimated at $173 million.
Two Fairfield businesses were targeted in the raid — U.S. Beef Cincinnati, 3210 Profit Drive, and Butcher Shop Food Distributors LLC, 300 Commercial Drive.
A search warrant was also served at the rented Hamilton County home of Scott Traum and Joey Lightcap-Traum, the owners of U.S. Beef Cincinnati. Several vehicles, including a Corvette, were taken by investigators,
According to the complaint filed Aug. 20 and unsealed late Wednesday by a federal judge following the arrest of all but one suspect, between February 2015 and August 2015, a reliable and trustworthy informant conducted at least 15 illegal transactions with various U.S. Beef representatives, and during that time frame, the company received $8,101 in SNAP benefits from the informant.
In exchange, during that time period, the informant received $2,280, two cases of various meat products and 13 Oxycodone pills from U.S. Beef representatives.
The complaint also states U.S. Beef redeems an average of $21,079.56 a month more than comparable food delivery services, indicating that the average monthly fraudulent redemption amount at U.S. Beef is $21,079.48 a month.
Butcher Shop Food Distributors is owned by Joseph Gray, according to police records.
Between March 2014 and July 2015, an informant conducted at least 32 illegal transactions with various Butcher Shop representative, according to the federal complaint filed with the court.
During that time frame, the Butcher Shop received approximately $14,084.46 in SNAP benefits from the informant, and during that time frame, the informant received $3,695, six cases of various meat products, 165 Hydrocodone pills and approximately 11.98 grams of heroin.
The Butcher Shop redeems an average of $14,688.78 a month more that comparable food delivery services, indicating that the average monthly fraudulent redemption amount attributable to the Butcher Shop is $14,688.78 per month, according to the complaint.
During a 24-month period (June 2013 to May 2015), approximately $352,530.62 in fraudulent SNAP transactions were redeemed by the Butcher Shop.
Federal magistrate Michael J. Newman released six of the defendants on bond and seven remain behind bars. One suspect, William King, remained at-large Thursday.
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