East Orange grocery store owner sentenced in $2.2 million food stamp fraud case

Authorities said the store owner inflated purchases before giving customers cash.

An Essex County grocer has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for a food stamp scheme that raked in more than $2.2 million over seven years.

Victor Madera, 67, of New Brunswick, will serve a 27-month sentence after pleading guilty in federal court in Trenton to conspiracy to defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the federal food assistance program formerly known as food stamps, and benefits fraud, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced Monday.

Madera owned a midsize grocery store in East Orange that was an authorized participant in the SNAP program, which uses taxpayer money to help low-income families buy food.

Frazer said store employees often inflated the dollar amounts of SNAP-eligible purchases, then gave customers a portion of the purchase price back in cash, even though it is illegal to exchange SNAP benefits for money.

The store kept the remainder, and Madera later received SNAP reimbursements worth far more than the actual value of the food.

Special agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the scheme operated from May 2017 through November 2024.

U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch sentenced Madera on July 1 to 27 months in prison. He was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release and pay more than $2.2 million in restitution and forfeiture.

Madera’s attorney, Newark-based Stephen Turano, did not respond to requests for comment.