2 Years Federal Prison In $66M Food Stamp Fraud, Bribery Scheme

GARDINER, NY — An Ulster County woman learned that abusing her position with the federal government will cause her to lose her freedom.

U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley announced this week that 56-year-old Arlasa Davis, of Gardiner, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for her part in a fraud and bribery scheme that generated over $66 million in unauthorized transactions under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. She previously pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.

In addition to her prison term, Davis was sentenced to two years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $48,470 and pay restitution of $36 million.

Davis, a longtime employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, abused her position within the department responsible for identifying SNAP fraud to sell confidential government information to criminals.

"Arlasa Davis exploited her role as a government employee to enrich herself while undermining a program designed to help New York families in need," Buckley said. "This conviction and sentence send a clear message that exploitation of funds intended for families will result in serious consequences."

According to court documents, Davis abused her privileged access to federal systems to sell hundreds of Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) license numbers to her co-conspirators. She used her cellphone to take photos of handwritten lists of license numbers intended for qualifying stores, and gave them to an intermediary who sold them to co-conspirators. The license numbers were then fraudulently used to obtain EBT terminals for stores that were not authorized by the USDA to process SNAP transactions.

In return, Davis received bribes that were disguised in communications as "birthday gifts," "flowers," and other items.

Buckley praised the investigative efforts of the USDA Office of Inspector General and the NY Field Office of the FBI. This case is being handled by the Office's General Crimes Unit, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Georgia V. Kostopoulos and Joe Zabel in charge of the prosecution.