DULUTH, Ga. — A Georgia-based Army soldier has been arrested after police said he bought electronic benefit transfer cards, commonly known as food stamps, meant for the poor and hungry.
Eugene Clark, 39, was arrested April 22 in Duluth after an undercover investigation led police to a Sugarloaf Parkway grocery store where an officer said Clark bought multiple EBT cards from him as they became available.
Police said Clark, a soldier based out of Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia, had advertised on Craigslist to purchase the cards at a rate later determined to be $300 per $600 EBT card.
He and the undercover officer worked out the deal to meet on March 18 at the grocery store.
It would appear Clark didn't suspect that the his potential customer was actually a member of law enforcement since he showed up at the location wearing a sweatshirt bearing his Army unit's identifying information.
When Clark went into the grocery store to make a small purchase verifying the authenticity of the card, the officer made contact with the Army Criminal Investigations Division in Fort Benning.
Clark bought more EBT cards at other meetings with the undercover officer, police said, with the final purchase on April 22, police said. That was the day Clark was arrested and taken to the Gwinnett County Jail on charges of financial transaction card fraud and fraud in obtaining public assistance, food stamps or Medicaid.
He spent just over 24 hours in jail before bonding out on April 23 just before 6 p.m.
Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Michele Pihera said such illegal transactions hurt the taxpayers and the poor who need the benefits, while the buyers and sellers cash in on the benefits for their personal use.
"The person who is buying the EBT card wants to get double the credit. And the person who is looking to sell the EBT card wants quick cash. But it's against the law. The person making the purchase of the EBT card could be using it for personal purchases [of groceries], or he could be using it to sell for a greater value. These are taxpayer funds" that are being, in effect, stolen, Pihera said.
One of the lead agencies in the investigation was the Georgia Department of Human Resources fraud investigation unit, which provided Gwinnett County police with the EBT cards to use in the sting.
The director of the unit, Maurice Ingram, said his team of investigators monitors the Internet and social media sites all day, every day, and checks out tips and develops leads, looking for people buying and selling EBT benefits.
In 2015, Ingram said, the Georgia Department of Human Resources' Benefits Recovery Unit uncovered 3,881 cases of food stamp fraud across the state — fraud that cost taxpayers $12.2 million. It's money that would have gone to those who were legitimately qualified to receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The $12.2 million was 0.4 percent of the total amount of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits received by Georgians in 2015, and the 3,881 cases of fraud amounted to 0.2 percent of the 1.7 million people in Georgia who received SNAP benefits in 2015.
Ingram spoke of how aggressive his office is in rooting out fraud and arresting violators, resulting in relatively low rates of fraud. The federal government arranges for Ingram to speak to other states to describe Georgia's investigative and enforcement efforts.
"We want to send a clear message," Ingram said. "We will not tolerate waste of taxpayers' dollars."
