{"id":5511,"date":"2022-03-12T14:19:20","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T19:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usda.attorney\/?page_id=5511"},"modified":"2023-04-10T17:10:54","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T21:10:54","slug":"detroit-michigan-snap-violation-attorney","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/usda.attorney\/detroit-michigan-snap-violation-attorney\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Michigan SNAP Violation Attorney"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1>\n\t\tSNAP Trafficking Defense: Beat the Odds\n\t<\/h1>\n<h2>\n\t\tA Detroit, Michigan SNAP Retailer\n\t<\/h2>\n\t<p>There were 1,372 transactions listed in the <a href=\"https:\/\/usda.attorney\/practice\/snap-violation-letter\/\">EBT Analysis Charge Letter<\/a> that our client received in September of 2021.\u00a0 His store wasn&#8217;t huge, but it was big for the local area.\u00a0 He had about 3,000 square feet of retail space and storage, which made him bigger than the gas stations that surrounded his store, but still smaller than the distant supermarket.\u00a0 He didn&#8217;t have shopping carts, or shopping baskets.\u00a0 Our client was proud of the store, and his customers noticed the time and effort he invested into it.<\/p>\n<p>The USDA didn&#8217;t know much about his store though.\u00a0 They didn&#8217;t know that he had worked in the store since 1992, starting as just a clerk and saving to buy a piece of the store in 1997.\u00a0 A decade of hard work and saving later, our client bought the rest of the business in 2007.\u00a0 This store was his life&#8217;s work &#8211; his largest asset, and his family&#8217;s source of income.\u00a0 But the store was dependent on its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) customers.\u00a0 This program used to be known as the Food Stamp Program, but the name changed when paper stamps were changed to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the USDA threatened to destroy his business by prohibiting him from accepting EBT because it didn&#8217;t like how his transactions appeared.<\/p>\n<h2>\n\t\tDetails of the Charge Letter\n\t<\/h2>\n\t<p>Like most other EBT Analysis Charge Letters, this letter included the allegation that trafficking had occurred at the store during the January, 2021-June, 2021 &#8220;review period.&#8221;\u00a0 The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) didn&#8217;t allege that anyone had seen trafficking, or that someone claimed to see an EBT card misused, but rather that the transactions looked &#8220;suspicious.&#8221;\u00a0 There were two types of transactions the USDA cited as the basis for their claim that a violation occurred:<\/p>\n\t<ul>\n\t\t<li>\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<h3>Scan B2: Multiple Transactions in a Set Time Period<\/h3><p>In a series of EBT transactions, multiple transactions were made from the accounts of individual households within a set time period.\u00a0 The USDA&#8217;s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) identified 30 sets of these transactions, the shortest of which occurred in thirty seconds.\u00a0 The longest occurred over 23 hours.<\/p><\/li><li>\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<h3>Scan F: Large Transactions Based on Inventory<\/h3><p>In a series of EBT transactions, the store conducted EBT transactions that were large based on the observed store characteristics and recorded food stock.\u00a0 FNS attached a list of these transactions which included more than 1,310 purchases over the review period.\u00a0 The smallest was $35.41 and the largest was $325.49.\u00a0 All but 38 of the transactions were under $100, and most of the transactions were less than $60.<\/p><\/li>\t<\/ul>\n<h2>\n\t\tA Strong Defense to SNAP Trafficking\n\t<\/h2>\n\t<p>Our firm was retained by the retailer quickly after he received the letter.\u00a0 This gave us time to utilize two different defenses to the violation.\u00a0 The first was that our client had trained his clerks in the SNAP regulations and processes, and documented it.\u00a0 Although most SNAP retailers maintain training for their new store employees, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/cfr\/text\/7\/278.6\">7 C.F.R. 278.6<\/a> requires that the training be documented.\u00a0 This Detroit store owner had followed the regulations to the letter, and maintained a strong training and policy program.\u00a0 So, we bifurcated (split in half) our defense and issued two letters &#8211; one for the training, and a second data analysis response.<\/p>\n<p>No other firm in the nation has the SNAP experience that Metropolitan Law Group does in responding to a SNAP violation letter.\u00a0 We use our broad experience representing retail stores to build custom and robust defenses using data, analytical studies, witness statements and other important components to attack the USDA&#8217;s position.\u00a0 Our brief in this matter, the second of two letters, was more than forty pages in length.\u00a0 It took the Department three months to evaluate our response<\/p>\n<h2>\n\t\tDismissal of the Trafficking Charges\n\t<\/h2>\n\t<p>On February 14th, 2022, the USDA issued a decision on the Charge Letter.\u00a0 Our client in Detroit received the letter at the same time we did, through the email.\u00a0 In the letter, Section Chief Sanela Ocanovic wrote the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Consideration has been given to the information and evidence available to us relating to our letter of charges dated September 29, 2021, and to your replies of October 12, 2021, November 01, 2021, November 03, 2021 and November 07, 2021.\u00a0 Based on the information you supplied we will not be taking further action in the matter and consider the case closed.&#8221; &#8211; Sanela Ocanovic<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Our law firm was thrilled with the result &#8211; especially given our client&#8217;s history at the store.\u00a0 It would have been a personal and professional disaster to lose the store just because the Agency didn&#8217;t like how often people shopped at our client&#8217;s store with their SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n<h1>\n\t\tDetroit SNAP Violation Attorney\n\t<\/h1>\n\t<p>SNAP violation defense cases are difficult.\u00a0 The success rate for unrepresented retailers is extremely low.\u00a0 Cases where attorneys without experience represent retailers are only slightly better than when retailers try to defend themselves.\u00a0 Accordingly, we recommend that you trust your store and your investment, to a team of experts and professionals in the field of SNAP law.\u00a0 We have defended hundreds of SNAP retailers in EBT Analysis cases such as this one.\u00a0 We have consulted with and represented thousands of retailers in our decade of service.\u00a0 We are proud of our quality attorney client relationships, and we can help your store too.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/usda.attorney\/snap-violation-defense-free-consultation\/\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet a Free Consultation Today!\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SNAP Trafficking Defense: Beat the Odds A Detroit, Michigan SNAP Retailer There were 1,372 transactions listed in the EBT Analysis Charge Letter that our client received in September of 2021.\u00a0 His store wasn&#8217;t huge, but it was big for the local area.\u00a0 He had about 3,000 square feet of retail space and storage, which made [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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