A Holyoke man is accused of fraudulently using EBT cards to buy food for his wife’s restaurant
Police had been investigating Jose A. Baez's activity for about a year, they said.
A Holyoke man is accused of buying “tens of thousands of dollars” worth of food using illegally obtained EBT cards, and bringing it to a restaurant his wife owns where it was used for meals, state police said.Jose A. Baez, 55, was arrested Wednesday after state police and the state Department of Transitional Assistance investigated his alleged activities for almost a year, according to officials. He is charged with an electronic fund transfer violation, public assistance fraud, a government purchasing violation, money laundering, and larceny over $1,200 by a single scheme.Through the investigation and troopers’ surveillance, police said they found that Baez was buying “large quantities of food products” from 90 Meat Outlet and Sweet Life Food Companies, both on Avocado Street in Springfield, almost every day.Baez allegedly used multiple Electronic Benefits Transfer cards to buy the food. He then would take the food to El Rincon Boricua restaurant at 216 Lyman St. in Holyoke, police said.Police were still figuring out the exact amount of food purchased through Baez’s alleged scheme, according to officials. Two search warrants were executed on Wednesday — one at the restaurant and the other at Baez’s home on Homestead Avenue. Baez was arrested at the restaurant, police said.
