Kentucky man sentenced in case involving $2.1 million in food-stamp fraud
A Lee County man has been sentenced to four months on home detention in a case that involved more than $2 million in food-stamp fraud.
Robert Goe’s attorney had argued that his role in the fraud was limited.
U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning said Goe was responsible for $26,681 in restitution to the Department of Agriculture, which funds what is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Goe’s father, Billy Joe Goe, owned and operated the Owsley County market named in the federal charges. The father and son were indicted together last December, but Billy Joe Goe died in July while still facing charges.
A grand jury charged that the two conspired to defraud the government.
Billy Joe Goe’s market, where his son worked, allowed people to use their SNAP cards to buy ineligible items or to pay on credit accounts or loans, the indictment said.
The store also paid cash for food stamps at a reduced rate. In that type of scam, a store takes money off a person’s electronic benefits card, perhaps $100, gives the beneficiary a portion, then gets paid the full amount by the government.
Billy Joe Goe’s store received at least $2.1 million between October 2012 and December 2015 for food sales that didn’t occur or were substantially inflated, the indictment charged.
Robert Goe, of Beattyville, pleaded guilty to benefits fraud.
His attorney, Bryan K. Sergent, said in a court document that Goe used his own SNAP benefits to get cash.
“It’s important for this Court to recognize that the loss in this case was money that was used at his father’s facility to provide food and money for his family,” Sergent wrote.
Bunning sentenced Goe on Monday to five years on probation, with four months of that on home confinement with electronic monitoring.
