El Primo SNAP fraud ringleader sentenced

FITCHBURG — The lead defendant in a federal SNAP fraud bust that totaled over $1 million and saw the identities of over 100 people stolen from several states has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Raul Fernandez Vicioso, 37, a naturalized citizen from the Dominican Republic living in Fitchburg, will face three years of supervised release after his prison sentence and has also been ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution and $1.1 million in forfeiture.

U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman set the sentence in Worcester federal court on Monday.

This comes after Vicioso pleaded guilty this past March to conspiracy to commit SNAP fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, SNAP benefit fraud, aiding and abetting, and money laundering.

Vicioso was charged with three co-defendants — two illegal immigrants and one green card holder — on Feb. 3 after U.S. Attorney Leah Foley announced their arrests and detailed their scam.

The scheme involved over 100 stolen identities used to obtain $440,000 in SNAP benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island and $700,000 in Public Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits.

“It is no secret that there is rampant fraud across this nation,” Foley said when announcing the bust last February.

“The charges announced today are just a snapshot of the bigger picture, not just in Massachusetts, but across the country, people exploiting our precious taxpayer money and government resources for their own personal gain,” Foley added. “These benefits are intended to enable low income households to obtain a more nutritious diet by increasing their food purchasing power, not to stock someone’s restaurant,” she said.

Vicioso and his co-defendants used the stolen benefits to purchase bulk amounts of food to resell for a profit at Vicioso’s Leominster restaurant, El Primo.

While mostly making these bulk purchases at local wholesalers, at least one suspicious purchase was made just three doors down at Big Mania Meat Market — located in the same shopping plaza just a few doors down from El Primo, according to an affidavit from a special agent with the USDA.

The affidavit says the crew made another purchase at Big Mania Meat Market in June 2024 for $710.02 using a Rhode Island EBT card, leaving this time with just a single bottle of chocolate milk.

The alleged co-conspirators include Vicioso’s wife, Joel Vicioso Fernandez, 42, of Fitchburg; Roman Vequiz Fernandez, 32, a Venezuelan national living in Leominster; and Coralba Albarracin Siniva, 24, also a Venezuelan national living in Leominster.