A Chicago man is headed to federal prison for four years and four months after authorities say he quietly turned more than 1,200 SNAP EBT (Link) cards into a one-man, underground grocery business that pulled in over $1.5 million. Prosecutors said David Quinones ran the scheme from 2018 through 2023, using other people’s benefits to buy goods he then flipped for cash. On March 9, a judge also ordered him to repay every cent: $1,554,804 in restitution.
How prosecutors say he did it
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Quinones pleaded guilty in February 2025 to a federal wire fraud charge. In that plea, he admitted offering SNAP recipients cash or other items if they handed over access to their Link cards and PINs. Prosecutors say he then used those cards at authorized retailers while pretending to be the actual cardholder, stocking up on items he could resell for a profit. The plea documents state that his conduct caused the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay out approximately $1,554,804 in SNAP benefits.
Sentence and restitution
As reported by CBS Chicago, Quinones was sentenced on March 9, 2026, to four years and four months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,554,804 in restitution to the government. He had pleaded guilty last year to the wire fraud charge, avoiding a trial but still landing a substantial prison term and a seven-figure bill.
Federal crackdown on benefit fraud
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has been leaning into benefit-fraud prosecutions, arguing that scams like this pull food off the tables of families who actually need the help. In a March 4, 2026 press release, prosecutors highlighted a separate case involving a Chicago-area convenience-store owner who received a four-year sentence after a multi-store scheme that redeemed more than $19 million in WIC checks. The U.S. Attorney's Office framed that case, and Quinones’s, as part of a broader push to protect nutrition-program dollars.
Law and penalties
Quinones’s conviction centers on wire fraud, a federal crime that typically carries a statutory maximum of up to 20 years in prison under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, as reflected in federal model instructions. The Ninth Circuit model jury instructions set out the elements of wire fraud and its potential penalties.
The Food and Nutrition Service treats the conduct at issue as “trafficking,” which includes buying or selling EBT or Link cards or swapping SNAP benefits for cash. The agency’s Food and Nutrition Service guidance describes such conduct as a serious violation that undermines the integrity of the program.
What this means locally
Federal officials say scams like Quinones’s do more than pad a fraudster’s pockets. They argue these schemes siphon off money meant for households that count on SNAP to cover basic groceries and chip away at public confidence in programs built as a safety net. With the prison term and restitution now in place, this case becomes one more example federal prosecutors are holding up as a warning that turning public benefits into a side hustle can come with a long stretch in prison and a heavy tab to repay.
