A 29-year-old Italian national, living in Oregon, was yesterday sentenced to two years in federal prison for taking part in a multi-state criminal conspiracy that robbed low-income, food-insecure individuals and families of millions of dollars of benefits.

Giovanni Spirea was part of a criminal conspiracy that stole more than $2.4 million from people in need. He was ordered to pay restitution of $61,874.32 and will be subjected to three years of supervised release.

The Criminal Conspirators Used Electronic Devices to Skim SNAP Benefits

The thefts occurred between August 2023 and October 2024 when Spirea and his co-conspirators used electronic devices to skim Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

They encoded stolen data onto cloned Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)

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