WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman who pleaded guilty to defrauding the government of about $3.6 million in food stamp benefits through a scheme she ran out of her convenience store faces sentencing.
Vida Ofori Causey, of Worcester, is scheduled to be sentenced today in federal court.
The 46-year-old Causey pleaded guilty in December to charges including conspiracy to commit benefits fraud and money laundering.
The Telegram & Gazette reports that federal prosecutors are seeking a nearly four-year prison term. Causey’s lawyer is asking for four years of probation, including a period of home detention and restitution.
Prosecutors say Causey ran a scheme in which she and two store clerks paid 50 cents cash for every food-stamp dollar, and then submitted the full value of the benefits to the government for reimbursement.
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