A Haitian immigrant is pleading guilty to processing at least $6.7 million worth of SNAP benefits through fraudulent transactions at a tiny retail storefront he owned in Boston.
Antonio Bonheur, 74, has reached a plea agreement with the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office on federal charges that include one count of wire fraud and one count of the unauthorized use/transfer/possession of benefits, according to court documents.
Bonheur has admitted to exchanging millions of dollars in federal USDA SNAP benefits for cash and ineligible items at Jesula Variety Store, one of the two Mattapan storefronts in the nearly $7 million fraud scheme that the feds cracked open late last year.
“I am entering into this Agreement freely and voluntarily and because I am in fact guilty of the offense(s). I believe this Agreement is in my best interest,” states an acknowledgement of a plea agreement that Bonheur signed on Feb. 27. The document was filed in federal court on Monday.
The feds argued that between February 2021 and December 2025, Bonheur processed “at least $6,700,000 worth of SNAP benefits through fraudulent EBT transactions at JVS.”
Those transactions resulted in electronic deposits into bank accounts that Bonheur reportedly designated to receive SNAP redemption proceeds from his store, just 150 square feet in size.
“In particular,” documents state, “on thousands of occasions between 2021 and December 2025, BONHEUR accepted EBT cards at JVS from SNAP recipients wishing to exchange their SNAP benefits for cash, passed those EBT cards through a POS terminal for the purpose of causing the full value of the SNAP benefits to be electronically transferred to JVS, and provided less than the full value of the SNAP benefits in cash to the SNAP recipients.”
A “Waiver of Indictment and Plea to Information” hearing is set for March 30 in federal court in Boston.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley has agreed to recommend Bonheur be sentenced for “not more than the low end of the guidelines…”
Wire fraud carries a sentence of up to 20 years, up to three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, a mandatory special assessment of $100, restitution, and forfeiture to the extent charged.
Unauthorized use/transfer/possession of benefits carries all of the above, but a shorter sentence, of up to five years.
“Defendant understands that, if Defendant is not a United States citizen by birth, pleading guilty may affect Defendant’s immigration status,” the plea agreement states. “Defendant agrees to plead guilty regardless of any potential immigration consequences, even if Defendant’s plea results in being automatically removed from the United States.”
Charging documents show that the total value of SNAP redemptions at Bonheur’s started to spike months before, increasing from $6,467 in October 2023 to $157,937 in March 2024. The value skyrocketed to a monthly high of $540,870 in August 2024. Monthly redemptions in 2025 were all above $200,000, with a high of $358,472 in October.
The other defendant in the case, Saul Alsime, a Haitian national, allegedly owned the Saul Mache Mixe Store, within the same Mattapan storefront as Bonheur’s store.
Alsime is believed to have trafficked over $121,890 in SNAP benefits between May 2025 and December 2025, according to charging documents. His case has been delayed until mid-May, according to the docket.
“These men abused one of the government’s most critical safety net programs for their own financial gain,” Foley told reporters at the time of their indictments. “This is taxpayer money meant to keep people from going hungry. These defendants decided to take it for themselves. These defendants exchanged SNAP benefits for cash, which they pocketed.”
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