Benefits card raid frustrates Lynners

LYNN – Central Avenue appeared noticeably quiet Wednesday following a raid of ACE Wholesale and JM Minimart Tuesday morning along with two other downtown stores as part of an ongoing food stamp fraud investigation by Lynn and State police, but elsewhere city officials were reacting to the raid with disgust.Ward 5 City Councilor Brendan Crighton, who represents the ward where the stores are located, called the raid and abuse of the EBT cards “frustrating.”?It?s certainly a frustrating situation, especially having it in your city in Ward 5,” Crighton said Wednesday. “But this was a fraudulent situation and hopefully it sends a message that this type of activity won?t be tolerated.”He applauded the work done by local and state police, along with the District Attorney?s office, and said it?s regretful the raids took place where they did.?It?s frustrating to have this type of incident occurring in the downtown,” Crighton said. “I think these stores are just a few bad apples. There?s obviously a lot of good and well-intentioned businesses in the downtown.”He also supports efforts by city officials to look at revoking the stores? licenses.?I certainly would like to see what disciplinary actions can be taken at the local level or through the state or federal agencies,” Crighton said.City Council President Tim Phelan said he would like to talk to law enforcement about what the city can do to penalize the offending businesses, and worried about the impact the crimes would have on the city?s reputation.?It certainly doesn?t make the city look good,” Phelan said. “And it?s aggravating because there are people that actually need (the benefits) that aren?t getting it. If they?re guilty they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and they should be ashamed of themselves.”Assistant City Attorney James Lamanna said the city has no control over the issuance of or monitoring the use of the EBT cards. He noted local police asked for an opinion Tuesday about what licenses city officials could go after.Lamanna said there?d have to be a hearing, but city officials could try to revoke the common victualers license.A lone man parked in front of ACE early Wednesday afternoon and went to the entrance, only to find it locked and empty. Several other businesses adjacent to the store were closed as well for unknown reasons. The few stores on Central Avenue that did open Wednesday mostly denied any knowledge of the activity at JM Minimart and ACE, saying businesses who share the street generally keep to themselves.Danny King, owner and operator of the 31-year-old Sign Store located just half-a-block down from the raided stores, said he has seen Central Avenue, and Lynn in general, have its ups and downs and this instance is fairly welcome compared to street crime.?There?s a lot of things you see that you wonder about,” King said. “If you look at what?s gone on in the last two years within two or three blocks of here, it?s not that surprising.”King noted that the food stamp program and EBT cards in general are “a mess,” and Lynn should not be singled out because of Tuesday?s raid.The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been dealing increasingly with illegal buying or selling of food stamps nationwide, resulting in 597 federal convictions nationwide and $197.4 million in fines, restitution and forfeiture orders over the last three years, according to the USDA Office of the Inspector General website. State governments conducted more than 847,000 fraud investigations regarding SNAP benefits in 2010, according to the USDA.The state uses EBT cards, short for Electronic Benefits Transfers, in place of traditional food stamps, which are essentially debit cards that are automatically credited monthly with the appropriate amount for which a person or household is eligible and can be used at authorized stores by swiping it through a specialized debit machine.More than 46.2 million people received a total of $75.3 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assi