SNAP scam enterprise busted in Ohio
A year-long investigation in the Columbus area ended in indictments against Ionut Bizga, 33, Doina Bacelan, 32, and Juan Hernandez, 26. Each was indicted for a pattern of corrupt activity and food stamp fraud. Arraignments are set for today.
The fraud included the use of card skimmers, among other tools, to steal benefits, money and merchandise from SNAP recipients across Ohio, totalling at least $600,000, according to investigators.
The trio was seen going into various businesses such as Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale and other businesses where they spent hundreds of dollars in stolen benefits for energy drinks and candy, sometimes spending $3,000 in one visit, according to investigators, and then storing the items in storage units around Columbus.
The items were then shipped out of state in box trucks and, on several occasions, sold to a local distributor. These suspects and several unidentified individuals were also observed installing credit card skimmers at stores in Ohio and Kentucky.
A traffic stop on May 14 ended in the arrest of Bizga and Bacelan. A translator was used by U.S. Secret Service during their arrest.
A search of the vehicle uncovered $62,600 in cash, several cold coins, gold jewelry, cell phones and suspected cloned credit cards. Investigators also searched the storage units connected to the suspects and found hundreds of cases of energy drinks and candy, among other items.
Additional charges for multiple individuals are pending the identification of other suspects.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Emmer visits St. Cloud's New Flyer, discusses Northstar's future
House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., paid St. Cloud a visit Thursday morning to tour the New Flyer facility and promote President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill." Emmer toured the bus manufacturing facility alongside Federal Transit Administration Administrator Marc Molinaro and local leaders like Metro Bus CEO Ryan Daniel and former Mayor Dave Kleis, chair of the Metro Bus Board of Commissioners. The visit was part of efforts to promote the "One Big Beautiful Bill" and the American manufacturing industry, which Emmer and Molinaro discussed on the tour, as well as the future of the Northstar commuter rail. "One of the greatest things about changes in administration is fresh ideas that come in," Emmer said. "Is there a way that we can get more decision making at the local level, is there a way we can make it more efficient to save costs? I'm just really excited because of the new way of looking at manufacturing." Rail service: Minnesota's Northstar commuter rail, link bus service expected to stop The new legislation signed into law in July includes many tax cuts, as well as major cuts to programs like Medicaid, SNAP and clean energy credits. This summer, the Federal Transit Administration also made $1.5 billion available to cities for new bus purchases as part of its Low or No Emission Grant Program and Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Program. Molinaro said the bill, with its focus on American manufacturing and decreasing regulation, would likely boost production at New Flyer and support the country's public transportation industry, particularly buses. "Our public transit systems are the circulatory system of America," he said. "What the president understands... is making it easier for transit systems to make those purchases." While the two leaders celebrated the use of buses in Minnesota and nationwide, Emmer emphasized the importance of "smart transit" and criticized the Northstar commuter rail, saying the cost for the route "doesn't make any sense." After prolonged rising operational costs and low ridership, the Northstar rail is expected to make its final trip early next year. The route currently connects central Minnesota to the Twin Cities, with a train to Big Lake and the Northstar Link bus that takes passengers to St. Cloud. Light rail is not a solution to the region's public transportation needs, Emmer said, and buses can be more useful by serving people where they are rather than making people go to the train. Metropolitan Council plans to transition to bus service instead, which will only go as far north as Ramsey, according to presentation documents. Arctic Cat: Arctic Cat resumes production at St. Cloud, Thief River Falls plants A Metro Transit survey of Northstar riders also found that if it transitioned to an hourly bus service from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., about half of riders said they would be somewhat likely to use the service, with a third saying they are not at all likely to use it. "We've had this debate ongoing in this state for quite a while, how are you going to get the most bang for the dollars that you have? Light rail has not proven to be the answer to that question," Emmer said. New Flyer CEO Paul Soubry also spoke at Thursday's tour, saying the "One Big Beautiful Bill" aligns with the company's goals of stable funding, efficiency and retaining skilled workers. "What the Administrator is trying to do is streamline the way that money gets to the operators and how they buy vehicles," Soubry said. "The ability to be effective as an American employer is exactly what they're talking about." New Flyer, one of St. Cloud's largest employers, has about 900 workers at its St. Cloud facility. It produces traditional diesel, electric and natural gas-powered buses for 18 transit agencies nationwide, including Metro Transit, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. Teagan King covers business and development for the St. Cloud Times. She can be reached at teking@ This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Rep. Emmer visits St. Cloud's New Flyer on Big Beautiful Bill tour Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
NM food banks say they will struggle to provide meals for those who lose federal benefits
U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, center, gathered leaders of health, housing and food nonprofits to discuss how recently enacted federal cuts will affect New Mexicans, along with how the spending bill will increase prices on health insurance, housing, energy costs and nutrition. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM) Cuts to the country's food assistance programs in the recently enacted Congressional spending bill will leave food banks and other charities across the state with less food to feed longer lines of hungry people, leaders warned Monday at a roundtable with U.S. Rep Gabe Vasquez. The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which gives low-income families money to spend on groceries, currently provides nine times as many meals across the state and country as the entire nationwide network of food charities, Jason Riggs, community initiatives manager at the Roadrunner Food Bank, told Vasquez and other nonprofit leaders at the roundtable. In New Mexico, more than 500 shelters, pantries, schools and hot-meal sites comprise the state's 'food bank,' he said, and that whole network provides only a fraction of what SNAP delivers for families. 'There's no way we can just suddenly multiply everything we do times nine to make that happen. We couldn't do that in 10 years,' Riggs said. 'No business can grow nine times. So any thoughts that, 'Well, charity will take care of this,' are very misguided.' New Mexico officials say federal cuts will probably deepen hunger for children, seniors Vasquez, a New Mexico Democrat who represents the state's 2nd Congressional District in the southern portion of the state, gathered leaders of various nonprofits handling housing, healthcare and nutrition at the food bank's headquarters to elicit testimony about how the cuts will affect New Mexicans, along with how the spending bill will increase prices on health insurance, housing, energy costs and nutrition. Regarding SNAP, Vasquez told Source New Mexico that the upcoming Farm Bill presents Democrats with an opportunity to undo some, but not all, of what the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' will do. The Farm Bill sets SNAP funding levels and other food-related policies. 'Republicans are going to propose a skinny Farm Bill, which is a watered-down version of the Farm Bill. They're going to want to have some bipartisan support for that, and we're not going to give it to them unless we get some concessions back on the priorities that we have,' he said. While he doesn't think Democrats have enough leverage to make Republicans completely reverse their SNAP cuts or other policies they just enacted in the spending bill, he said one concession he'll push for relates to states like New Mexico that are deemed to have high SNAP 'error rates.' The bill currently penalizes states that are found to over- or under-pay SNAP recipients at high rates by making them share a portion of the costs the federal government currently pays to SNAP recipients. In New Mexico, the federal government currently shoulders 100% of the more than $1 billion in annual spending to SNAP recipients. But under the bill, New Mexico will have to share 15% of the total SNAP spending New Mexicans receive because of its high error rate. New Mexico's rate is 14.6%; the national average is 9.83%. Vasquez said he hopes to push Republicans to change both the way the error rate penalty is calculated and give states longer grace periods to bring their rates down to avoid the penalty. 'I think those are common-sense proposals that Republicans should accept, but I don't expect to reverse a lot of that stuff, considering what it represents to the President's overall agenda,' he said, which is 'to cut Medicaid and to cut SNAP and to give taxes to the rich. Otherwise you won't be able to pay for those tax cuts.' States with rates above 10% incur the 15% fee, the highest penalty, which amounts to about $173 million, according to a presentation Monday from the Legislative Finance Committee to an interim legislative committee. NM lawmakers presented with tough choices amid federal cuts to Medicaid, SNAP Even though New Mexico faces a big error rate penalty, LFC analyst Austin Davidson also noted Monday that a provision in the bill allows states with high rates to wait longer before paying the penalty. Assuming the state's rate stays high, New Mexico won't pay the penalty until October 2028 at the earliest, Davidson said. Nonprofit leaders at the roundtable later Monday said that the state's error rate often comes from systemic problems at the state level, not fraud at the individual level, and mistakes are often quickly caught and corrected. According to a presentation from state Health Care Authority officials to the same legislative committee, analysts attribute 35% of the state's error rate to 'agency-caused' miscalculations of benefits or use of outdated information. To bring down the rate in New Mexico, Health Care Authority officials recommended increasing caseworker training at the authority's Income Support Division, along with improving information technology system changes to ensure quality control. The error rate cost is among hundreds of millions of dollars the state is anticipating losing in SNAP funding in the state with the highest rate of SNAP recipients. More than 450,000 New Mexicans use SNAP assistance, which is more than one-fifth of the population. All of them could see reductions in the amount of assistance, according to the Health Care Authority presentation. In addition, about 40,000 New Mexicans will likely lose their SNAP benefits completely due to new work requirements or their immigration status. As for retailers, about 1,700 gas stations, groceries, convenience stores and farmers' markets statewide stand to lose about $1.3 billion in SNAP revenue. Ari Herring, executive director of Rio Grande Food Bank, warned at the roundtable that all the cuts and costs facing the state will coalesce into a much bleaker food system for New Mexicans. 'We're gonna see much, much longer lines. We're gonna see people highly stressed about affordability, and we are gonna have less resources to answer that need,' she said. 'It really is a perfect storm.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Betrayed': Gov. Kotek reacts to projected loss of $15B in federal funding
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon is following the passage of President Donald Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' in early July. The cuts are expected to directly impact health insurance coverage including the Oregon Health Plan and SNAP food benefits, among other programs, according to a preliminary analysis from the State of Oregon's Chief Financial Officer. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Gov. Tina Kotek shared the following statement about the cuts on Monday: 'The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress have betrayed American children and families, who will become sicker, hungrier, and less prosperous because of President Trump's budget bill. Oregonians will see less of their federal tax dollars coming back to our state for things they count on. Furthermore, President Trump and Congress knew that state governments cannot pay for this substantial gap in services but went ahead and did it anyway. 'I am going to work with Oregon lawmakers and community partners to do all that we can to stand up for Oregonians and get through this needless, callous hardship. I will continue to hold the line and push back as Oregon values are under threat. I hope Oregonians will stand with me as we fight this together.' Kyle Camberg with the Portland nonprofit Sunshine Division said this comes at an already challenging time. 'The past five and a half years we've served and helped more families than at any time in our 102-year history. The amount of variables that have made it difficult for not just Portlanders, but Oregonians and everyone in the U.S., have not only seemingly increased since the pandemic. And so, if these numbers are accurate, it's really troubling,' Camberg said. The report also says Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Forestry are set to lose money this budget cycle, and it says the bill takes away funding for the I-5 Rose Quarter Project, meaning the total financing is no longer secured. Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
