SNAP thief gets 3.5 years
$50K in food benefits stolen from low-income New Yorkers
A West Palm Beach, Fla., woman convicted of defrauding 120 low-income New Yorkers out of tens of thousands of dollars of government-provided food assistance was sentenced to 3½ years in prison on Friday.
In sentencing Guyatree Singh to less time than the almost six years the government had requested, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jed Rakoff said “she defrauded very vulnerable victims,” but had also experienced severe trauma in her own life, for which he said society was partially responsible.
Guyatree Singh stole more than $50,000 over about four years by calling victims and pretending to be a New York State employee, according to the feds. She elicited personal details needed to access their electronic benefits used to purchase food through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
“By preying on those using their benefits for basic needs for survival, Singh showed there was no line she would not cross for a quick buck,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Sowlati told Rakoff that Singh stole from “the poorest of the poor,” many of whom were elderly and living with physical and mental disabilities. The prosecutor said she undoubtedly knew how vulnerable her victims were from speaking to them on the phone.
“The defendant was cruel,” Sowlati wrote in the government’s sentencing submission ahead of the proceeding, noting she stole from the most vulnerable in society while living comfortably with a devoted husband who had a well-paying job as an engineer.
“It meant nothing to the defendant that they would go to bed hungry.”
Singh, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in January following her August arrest, has an open warrant for forgery and five previous convictions, according to court records. Her lawyer said the SNAP scheme was a means to support her ailing mother, but the feds said that could not be true as it started in April 2019, months before the mother fell ill. Prosecutors reasoned Singh was instead motivated by a “compulsion to commit fraud.”
Defense attorney Lorraine Gauli-Rufo on Friday told Rakoff her client had a history of being abused and that she was receiving targeted therapy for the first time while awaiting the resolution of her case in jail, noting, “She’s finally realizing she’s a woman who’s worth something.”
In brief remarks to the court, Singh said she had reflected deeply on her actions and accepted full responsibility.
“I am ashamed of what has happened,” she said.
“And only wish I could undo the damage it has caused.”