McKeesport store owner gets 2 years in federal prison for food stamp fraud

A Glassport man has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison for running a food stamp fraud and money laundering scheme out of his McKeesport grocery store.

Sin Y Sit, 46, was convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government of between $250,000 and $550,000 over a three-year period, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman said Thursday.

The fraud conspiracy took place between March 2014 and May 2017 at Mei A. Asian Grocery in McKeesport, which was owned and operated by Sin Y Sit and his wife, court records show.

The scheme worked by the store operators letting customers illegally exchange food stamp credits for cash — at a rate of 50 cents per $1 credit, prosecutors said. Customers also were allowed to trade food stamps for items that typically can’t be purchased with the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), such as tobacco.

In addition, Sin Y Sit withdrew cash that the Agricultural Department deposited into his store’s business account based on the fraudulent food stamp transactions, prosecutors said. He then used that cash to pay more customers in exchange for food stamp credits.

U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman imposed the 27-month prison sentence, which is to be followed by two years of probation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaun E. Sweeney prosecuted the case.

In a statement, Kaufman thanked investigators with the I.R.S., Department of Agriculture and Homeland Security for contributing to the prosecution.