The proprietor of a seemingly overachieving meals truck in Santa Ana has been charged with SNAP advantages fraud after federal officers flagged the truck’s staggering monetary numbers.
Soriano Produce, an unsuspecting meals truck that touts its “contemporary merchandise,” redeemed extra SNAP advantages than a number of giant grocery shops within the space, and had a mean transaction totaling $151.41 from April 2025 to April 2026, the indictment mentioned.
Three different close by distributors had a mean buy quantity of under $55 in the identical time interval.
Regardless of the meals truck’s comparatively low profile, the enterprise had a retailer greenback quantity of greater than $640,000, greater than six instances its nearest competitor. Soriano Produce was the highest-redeeming SNAP advantages retailer, regardless of having greater than 9,700 fewer transactions than the closest retailer.
The alleged fraud comes because the state contends with SNAP fraud estimated to be within the tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
Proprietor 48-year-old Esmeralda Soriano allegedly gave undercover officers $50 in money for $100 in SNAP advantages in Might. Soriano reportedly instructed the officer, “Should you come again, don’t ask my husband as a result of he wouldn’t do it.”
Undercover brokers once more approached Soriano later within the month, who charged the EBT card $172 and gave the officer $80 in money.
Soriano has been charged with two counts of unlawful trafficking in SNAP advantages.
Federal officers mentioned the shop’s one scanner and lots of back-to-back transactions mixed with the monstrous SNAP totals raised crimson flags.
“Its lack of scanners coupled with constant high-dollar transactions and fast back-to-back transactions are indicators of potential fraud,” the indictment mentioned.
A dozen transactions on the retailer utilizing EBT-SNAP totaled greater than $1,000, properly above the California common of $17.72 for a fruits-and-vegetables retailer.
By means of undercover operations and surveillance, an officer found that the truck had a countertop checkout space that had meals and non-food objects. One can use SNAP to buy meals objects, however non-food objects corresponding to houseware and toiletry are ineligible.
Dwight Llewellyn, an agent for Homeland Safety Investigations, mentioned the meals truck had one gadget to course of all meals stamp transactions, however the report of transactions appeared sketchy.
“Based mostly on my coaching and expertise, the dearth of scanners, coupled with constant high-dollar transactions, and fast back-to-back transactions, are indicators of potential fraud,” he mentioned within the grievance.
Soriano will probably be arraigned Aug. 13 in United States District Court docket in downtown Los Angeles. She is presently out of custody on a $5,000 bond.
If convicted of each expenses, Soriano may withstand 10 years in federal jail.
