Nationwide SNAP Violation Lawyers

Baltimore Snap Violation Attorneys

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is the flagship anti-poverty measure in the United States. Although the program’s forbears were first enacted all the way back in the Franklin Roosevelt Administration, it wasn’t until 1964, under Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty initiative, that the program began taking its current form.

Today, the SNAP program has successfully kept tens of millions of Americans, particularly children, from experiencing the worst consequences of poverty and food deprivation. As a result, almost no children in America suffer from the kinds of severe malnutrition that mark so many third world countries. This has been a proud achievement within the United States and represents one of the greatest progressive victories of the 20th century.

However, the fact that nearly $100 billion is spent each year by the federal government on SNAP benefits that affect more than 40 million Americans means that the government takes the protection of the program with the utmost seriousness. While fraud and abuse of the SNAP program, particularly its modern Electronic Benefits Transaction system, have been on the decline over the last few decades, the corresponding enforcement actions have caught many innocent store owners in the net.

Innocent mistakes don’t necessarily make you innocent

If you are a convenience store or grocery store owner in the United States today, it is nearly certain that you are a participant in the SNAP program. The program constitutes such a significant percentage of all food bought in the United States every year that it would be nearly impossible for store owners, especially those located in urban areas, to be able to stay in business without SNAP eligibility.

One of the largest problems that these SNAP-eligible store owners face is the fact that they are held responsible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the government agency that administers the SNAP program, for everything that happens in their stores. This means that each SNAP-eligible store owner is 100 percent liable for training each employee on their payroll all of the rules and regulations of the SNAP program and ensuring that no violations take place. This is hard enough when employees are well-intentioned. It becomes impossible when employees are actively seeking to violate the rules of the program for their own benefit.

If you have been accused of a violation of the SNAP program rules due to the actions of an employee, it is crucial that you get in touch with a lawyer experienced in welfare law who can help you maximize your chances of a successful outcome. Once you have received a letter from the USDA alleging violations of the food stamp program, the burden of proof is on you. There is no presumption of innocence. If you do not comply with all of the requirements of the investigation process, your store will be denied access to the food stamp program and all future EBT transactions within your store will be declined. For many store owners, such an outcome would spell doom for their business.

But with the right lawyer, it is possible to fight USDA violation notices and stave off the consequences to you and your business. It is critical to understand that there is a great deal at stake. Depending on the type of SNAP violation of which you are accused, you could be facing penalties ranging from a business-killing dismissal from the SNAP program all the way up to 25 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and restitution. And it is important for business owners to understand that they can be help personally liable for the actions of their employees when it comes to SNAP program violations.

Welfare law, in general, and food assistance law, in particular, are both highly unique and very complex areas of legal practice. It is crucial that you get a lawyer fighting on your side who has the knowledge and experienced to maximize the chances of a favorable outcome when fighting the USDA, the FNS and the court systems in the context of SNAP abuse or fraud accusations.

Our lawyers have hundreds of successfully resolved cases under their belts. Most of the cases we handle never go to trial and are dismissed at the administrative level. If you find yourself the focus of a USDA investigation, call us today.