BOSTON, Mass. — The owner of a tiny Mattapan variety store has admitted in federal court in Boston that he ran a food stamp fraud scheme out of the shop, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Saul Alisme, 25, of Hyde Park, entered a guilty plea to a single count of food stamp fraud. Judge Indira Talwani set his sentencing for Feb. 10, 2027. He was first charged in December 2025.
Federal prosecutors said Alisme owned Saul Mache Mixe Store, a one-storefront shop in Mattapan of about 500 square feet. Even with its small size and thin food stock, the store logged SNAP redemptions far larger than honest grocery sales could explain, according to the charging papers.
Purchase data told the story, prosecutors said. Roughly 10 percent of the shop’s SNAP sales came in under $40, while more than 70 percent topped $95, a pattern normally seen at big supermarkets rather than corner stores.
Undercover buyers twice swapped SNAP benefits for cash at the store, with Alisme running the register himself, according to prosecutors. The shop was also seen accepting SNAP benefits for liquor.
Prosecutors also said the store sold MannaPack meals, a food product funded by donors to a nonprofit and meant to be shipped free to hungry children overseas. Those meals are never supposed to be sold, yet the store charged about $8 a package for them.
The FBI’s Boston office, the federal Agriculture Department’s inspector general and the Boston police commissioner joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in announcing the plea. An assistant U.S. attorney in the office’s organized crime and gang unit is prosecuting the case.
Section: More Boston MA crime news
Filed under: Boston MA Crime News
