Man convicted in massive food-stamp scheme

WEST PALM BEACH — A suburban Lake Worth man was convicted this week for his role in a multicounty foodstamp fraud scheme.

A Palm Beach County Circuit Court jury on Monday convicted Michelson Janvier, 26, on two counts of public-assistance fraud and two counts of fraudulent use of personal identification.

Janvier faces a minimum of 13 years and a maximum of 85 years in prison, the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office said. A judge delayed sentencing when Janvier demanded a pre-sentence investigation.

Janvier initially faced the fraud charges following his 2016 arrest in a multi-agency law enforcement operation dubbed Operation Stampede/Cash Hungry.

The sheriff’s office and other authorities alleged at the time that Janvier stole the identities of more than 500 people in the county. He used that information to obtain electronic benefit transfer cards fraudulently.

Those cards were then taken to the Opa-Locka Flea Market where they were exchanged for cash, investigators said.

More than a dozen people, including several from Miami-Dade County, are alleged to have taken part in the scheme, according to state and federal authorities.

Authorities say the defendants obtained more than $13 million in fraudulent benefits.