Owners of neighboring Mattapan Square markets charged with SNAP fraud, selling rice meant to be donated to starving kids
Two men who run neighboring micro-markets on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan Square – one just 150 square feet – were arrested Wednesday on federal charges they paid cash for SNAP benefits and sold rice diverted from programs trying to feed starving children in other countries.
Antonio Bonheur, 74, of Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, of Hyde Park, were each charged with one count of food stamp fraud.
According to court documents, the two both signed up to offer products to SNAP recipients despite the fact that their stores offered few of the types of food typically eligible for SNAP recipients. Both would accept EBT cards from customers and then pay cash for the value on the cards – less a significant fee.
Bonheur, the feds charge, also illegally signed up for SNAP benefits of his own by falsely claiming to have no income at all, according to an affidavit by a USDA agent who investigated the two shops, which rented small spaces at 1549 Blue Hill Ave.
Between September, 2021, when he became eligible to offer items to SNAP recipients at his JVS shop, Bonheur trafficked in more than $6 million in SNAP benefits, even though, the affidavit states:
This retail area at JVS includes about two or three feet of checkout space near the point-of-sale terminal. There is one register, one point of sale terminal, and no optical scanners to scan items for purchase. There is one row of shelving flanking an open interior area, where inventory can be obtained by customers. There are no visible carriages and essentially no handbaskets. By any fair estimation, JVS is effectively a closet with shelves and a register. I also know from the investigation very few items for sale at JVS are eligible to be purchased with SNAP Benefits.
At his 500-square-foot SMMS, Alisme trafficked in roughly $122,000 in SNAP benefits, the affidavit states.
The affidavit recounts numerous days of observation of the stores, through both a surveillance camera mounted nearby and by an undercover agent who made a series of purchases at both places:
“On July 2, 2025, the UC entered JVS and observed there was a long line of customers in the store. BONHEUR was observed in JVS, but he did not appear to be conducting the register transactions. After waiting for the customers ahead of the UC to complete their transactions, the UC entered the store and purchased one bag of “Peyi” for approximately $16, one bag of cornmeal for approximately $10.00. UC also exchanged $121.00 in UC EBT SNAP Benefits for $100.00 in cash, receiving (1) $100.00 bill. A male clerk with dreadlocks conducted the transaction for the UC for $147 in EBT SNAP Benefits. It appears from the recording that the male clerk reached into a black plastic bag hanging above the cash register to retrieve the currency that was provided to the UC.”
Other days, however, the stores reported SNAP transactions to the government even when they had no customers buying actual SNAP-eligible items, the affidavit states:
“Investigators conducted surveillance at 1549 Blue Hill Ave, Mattapan, MA 02126 and found that repeatedly large transactions were occurring at JVS and people were leaving the stores sometimes with no merchandise or bags visible at all even after spending hundreds of dollars in SNAP EBT transactions.
“For instance, investigators reviewed pole camera footage of the store’s entrance from May 6, 2025, for every transaction that day at JVS. Not a single one of these transactions taking place on May 6, 2025, resulted in anyone being seen leaving the store with groceries or bags commensurate with a food purchase in the hundreds of dollars. A few customers were seen departing with 1 small plastic store bag in their hand. “
The affidavit also details sales of bags of rice labeled MannaPack:
“Investigators know that MannaPacks are manufactured by a nonprofit called Feed My Starving Children. MannaPacks are donated food products and are never to be sold in the United States and are never to be for sale anywhere. These packages are prepared and shipped to food insecure countries (such as Haiti) directly from the manufacture point where the product is sealed into shipping containers. The product is then shipped and to be given to children in need of emergency sustenance. The packages are paid for exclusively from donations. In order for these to be for sale in the United States, the items would have to be illicitly obtained from the donated food supply chain of one of the receiving countries and then the packages would have to be transported back to the United States where a vendor such as JVS could then obtain them and place them on the shelves for sale.”
