Russell Leroy Dotson, Jr. and Maria Luisa Dotson, Wire Fraud, Florida 2019

A Jacksonville couple has been handed prison sentences for their roles in a scheme to defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Russell Leroy Dotson Jr. and his wife, Maria Luisa Dotson, both 63 and 66 respectively, were sentenced to 18 months in federal prison each for conspiracy to commit wire fraud involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s SNAP program.

According to court documents, the Dotsons owned and operated Asmarina Food Mart, which had two locations in Jacksonville. When the Dotsons opened their stores, they applied for and received approval from the Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to participate in SNAP, a program that supplements the food budget of needy families so they can purchase healthy food and move towards self-sufficiency.

Once the Dotsons received this approval, they trained their employees on ways to conduct fraudulent transactions with SNAP recipients using their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, a type of debit card. Specifically, the Dotsons instructed their employees to ring up fraudulent transactions to make it appear that SNAP recipients had purchased eligible food products from the store using their EBT cards, when the recipients actually purchased nothing at all or actually purchased items not eligible under the SNAP program.

The employees then gave the SNAP recipients cash representing approximately one-half of the purported value of the fraudulent transaction, while the Dotsons kept the remainder of the money. Over approximately 27 months, Russell and Maria Dotson defrauded the United States out of $257,979.10.

The court also ordered the couple to pay $257,919.10 in restitution and entered an order of forfeiture for the same amount against each of them. Russell Dotson had pleaded guilty on July 26, 2019, and Maria Dotson had pleaded guilty on August 7, 2019.

This prosecution was part of a long-term investigation into SNAP fraud occurring at both Asmarina Food Mart locations in Jacksonville. To date, 12 other individuals, including employees of Asmarina Food Mart and SNAP recipients, have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced for their roles in this scheme and collectively have been ordered to pay a total of $249,829.67 in restitution to the United States.

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