Former SNAP Retailer Booted For Suspected Fraud Now Charged In Feeding Our Future Case: Feds

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A Minneapolis SNAP retailer who was previously kicked out of the program for suspected fraud is now the 77th person charged in the Feeding Our Future case, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment.

Prosecutors say 45-year-old Ousman Camara owned K’s Dollar Grocery and Deli in north Minneapolis. In 2015, the USDA disqualified Camara and his store from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program after suspected fraud involving SNAP transactions, authorities said.

Five years later, in 2020, Camara enrolled K’s Grocery in the Federal Child Nutrition Program under Feeding Our Future’s sponsorship. Prosecutors say he then began submitting claims for child meal reimbursements that never happened.

According to the indictment, Camara claimed he was feeding 1,000 children every day, seven days a week, throughout 2020 and 2021. He reported serving more than 300,000 meals and sought more than $1 million in federal reimbursements.

Investigators say Camara did not use the funds to buy food or serve children. Instead, prosecutors allege he spent the money on personal credit card bills, his lifestyle, and the purchase of a building in north Minneapolis. He also allegedly wired more than $100,000 overseas.

Camara is further accused of paying about $87,000 in kickbacks to a Feeding Our Future employee in exchange for program sponsorship and the submission of fraudulent claims.

The case was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Thompson, Harry Jacobs, and Daniel Bobier.