LANSING, MI – Three Michiganders are under arrest in connection with a $4 million interstate food stamp fraud ring, Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.
Travis Newby, 39, of Detroit; Derriun Williams, 23, of Detroit; and Vanessa Williams, 47, of Highland Park were arrested and arraigned last week in what the AG says is the first major case for her office’s new Organized Retail Crime Unit.
“We are partnering with businesses and law enforcement in every corner of this state,” said Nessel, who expects more defendants as the investigation continues. “And we’ll hold people who commit these crimes accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
The trio face felony charges for being part of this ring, which allegedly involved illegally obtaining electronic benefit (EBT) card data from 8,000 people residing in California, Washington, Michigan and other states.
In Michigan, people were allegedly using the cards to make fraudulent purchases from Sam’s Club stores in Metro Detroit. A local police agency led the AG’s office to the ring late last year, said assistant AG Eric Sterbis.
Because Newby, Derriun Williams and Vanessa Williams are being charged under Michigan’s Continuing Criminal Enterprise law, they could each face 20 years in prison.
“We are talking about not hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars,” Nessel said, “but we’re talking about millions of dollars in losses at a time.”
Eight search warrants executed last Wednesday resulted in substantial material seizures related to the alleged crimes and their suspects, Nessel’s office said. The ring is believed to have 10 or more people.
Retail fraud costs retailers in Michigan more than $1 billion annually, Nessel said, and retailers nationwide approximately $45 billion.
The AG’s retail crime unit was established in January to target criminal organizations that steal from retailers and repackage products to sell for a profit. This first-in-the-nation team, Nessel said, includes two full-time assistant attorneys general.
Her team currently has eight to 12 ongoing investigations, she said.
“We anticipate that through these prosecutions and criminal asset forfeiture,” Nessel said, “that this unit will be self-funding within only a few years of operation.”
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