Desha Morris, SNAP Benefits Theft, Indiana 2023

An Indianapolis woman has been sentenced to five years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to ten counts of mail fraud and two counts of benefits fraud.

Desha Morris, 39, of Indianapolis, was ordered to pay $335,589.08 in restitution after orchestrating a large-scale fraud scheme to illegally obtain and profit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps.

According to court documents, between April 2020 and July 2022, Morris submitted numerous fraudulent applications using falsified documents and fake identities, including altered driver’s licenses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers.

Morris rented multiple residences as mailing addresses for the EBT cards and used the names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of unsuspecting individuals on the rental applications. She also forged handwritten letters, allegedly from family members or friends of the fake applicants, to establish proof of residency and lack of income.

After acquiring the EBT cards, she either sold the SNAP benefits to others in exchange for cash or used the fraudulently obtained benefits herself. In total, Morris obtained $335,589.08 in fraudulent SNAP benefits.

Morris has a long history of forgery, theft, and identity fraud dating back to 2006. Her offenses include using stolen identities to obtain vehicles and rental cars on credit, presenting false identification to police, and possessing counterfeit checks, credit cards, and fraudulent BMV documents.

“Desha Morris’s actions not only defrauded the taxpayers who fund the SNAP program but also harmed the most vulnerable members of our community by undermining the integrity of critical safety net services,” said Tom Wheeler, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

The United States Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Inspection Service, Social Security Administration, and the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration investigated this case. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt.

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