2 men arrested for allegedly trafficking nearly $7 million worth of SNAP benefits: Officials
Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) signage at a grocery store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, US, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. The US government shutdown became painfully real for tens of millions Americans over the weekend as it hit the one-month mark with food aid disrupted, cuts to child care kicking in, and health insurance premiums spiking. Photographer: Mel Musto/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(MASSACHUSETTS) — Two Massachusetts men trafficked nearly $7 million worth of benefits intended for people who cannot afford food, federal prosecutors in Boston said Wednesday.
Antonio Bonheur, 74, of Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, of Hyde Park, were arrested Wednesday morning and charged with one count of food stamp fraud in a scheme that U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said “turned a program to feed families into a multimillion dollar criminal enterprise.”
Assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, became a focal point during the most recent government shutdown. According to federal prosecutors, the defendants operated small retail stores that, despite their limited size, inventory and food offerings, exhibited extraordinarily high SNAP redemption volumes far in excess of what could reasonably be supported by legitimate sales.
One store’s monthly SNAP redemptions exceeded $100,000 and, at times, even $500,000, prosecutors said. By comparison, a full-service supermarket in Boston typically redeems $82,000 per month in SNAP benefits.
Investigators went undercover, discovering that the defendants had personally exchanged SNAP benefits for cash. Both stores were also allegedly observed selling liquor in exchange for SNAP benefits.
“This is taxpayer money meant to keep people from going hungry. These defendants decided to take it for themselves,” Foley said.
Bitter Cold – Tuesday AM Wind Chills Map. ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A major arctic blast is stretching from the Midwest to the Northeast, bringing dangerously cold weather to 43 million people.
On Monday morning, the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — plunged to minus 30 degrees in Minneapolis; minus 27 degrees in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; minus 22 degrees in Chicago; and minus 22 degrees in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The brutal Midwest wind chill continued on Tuesday morning, hitting minus 13 degrees in Chicago; minus 23 in Green Bay; and minus 12 in Cleveland.
The freeze hit the Northeast on Tuesday morning, with the wind chill dropping to minus 11 degrees in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; 7 degrees in Washington, D.C.; and 5 degrees in New York City.
The Arctic blast is also bringing heavy lake effect snow to the Midwest and Northeast. The heaviest lake effect snow is expected in western Michigan and western and upstate New York where, 6 to 12 inches of snow is forecast.
Click here for what you need to know to stay safe in the cold.
(SAN ANTONIO) — Newly obtained dashboard camera video may show a Texas teenage girl right when she went missing on Christmas Eve, authorities said.
Camila Mendoza Olmos, 19, has been missing since Wednesday morning, according to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators previously released security footage showing a person they said they believe to be Mendoza Olmos searching her car in her driveway around 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Now, investigators have a dash cam video from someone who was driving to work on Wednesday morning and passed a woman walking by herself, and that person may be Mendoza Olmos, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a news conference on Monday.
The video was taken a few blocks from her home, he said.
The sheriff added that he couldn’t say with 100% certainty that Mendoza Olmos was in the video, but he said the clothing description matches up.
Salazar said authorities are releasing that footage “in hopes that somebody may have collected similar video.”
“This was the best direction of flight that we were able to develop,” he said.
Salazar told ABC News on Sunday that sheriff’s deputies and volunteers have been searching around the clock for Mendoza Olmos.
“Camila’s mother stated that Camila normally goes for a morning walk; however, she became concerned when Camila did not return within a reasonable period of time,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Multiple agencies have joined the search, including the FBI, which is providing technical assistance, and the Department of Homeland Security, which is monitoring border crossings and international travel, Salazar said.
“We definitely don’t want to miss anything,” Salazar said. “… We’re also not ruling out that this case may take us outside the borders of the continental United States.”
Salazar confirmed that Mendoza Olmos was not detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, despite her being a U.S. citizen.
“That was a personal concern. So, I had it checked to make sure that there were no stops, no detentions, and that she’s not somewhere in a federal detention facility. That is something we needed to check,” Salazar said.
The only items she took with her were her car keys and possibly her driver’s license, authorities said.
Salazar noted that it was unusual for Mendoza Olmos to leave her phone at home, saying she leads an active lifestyle and it’s “highly unusual” that she hasn’t returned.
“That’s why we’re working basically around the clock on this case,” Salazar said.
He said Mendoza Olmos recently went through a romantic breakup, but authorities said the breakup was mutual and don’t suspect anything “nefarious” was involved, saying everyone close to her is cooperating.
While Salazar would not disclose some details of Mendoza Olmos’s disappearance, he said there was enough information to suggest she is in “imminent danger.”
Salazar requested help from the community in the search, asking neighbors of Mendoza Olmos to check their surveillance cameras for any footage of the teenagers.
She was last seen wearing a baby-blue and black hoodie, baby-blue pajama bottoms and white shoes. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office at (210)335-6000 or the BCSO Missing Persons Unit via missingpersons@bexar.org.
Luis Nico-Moncada is seen in a photo released by Homeland Security, Jan. 9, 2026. (Department of Homeland Security/X)
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — The driver who was one of two people shot by a federal agent during immigration enforcement operations in Portland, Oregon, last week allegedly rammed his truck into an unoccupied U.S. Border Patrol vehicle prior to the shooting, according to a federal complaint unsealed on Monday.
Luis Nino-Moncada is charged with aggravated assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and depredation of federal property in excess of $1,000, according to the federal complaint.
Border Patrol agents attempted to stop his Red Toyota Tacoma on Thursday while conducting a targeted enforcement operation focusing on his passenger, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, Nino-Moncada appeared “anxious” and was moving around in the driver’s seat. After agents commanded them to exit, he allegedly put the vehicle in reverse and struck an unoccupied Border Patrol vehicle, causing “significant damage,” according to the complaint.
He then allegedly drove forward and backward multiple times, repeatedly hitting the federal vehicle, according to the complaint, which included several photos of the damaged car.
A Border Patrol agent then fired their service weapon twice at the driver of the truck, according to statements from Border Patrol agents, the complaint said.
Nino-Moncada and the woman fled the scene and agents did not know at the time whether anyone had been hit, according to the complaint.
Border Patrol agents did not pursue the vehicle after it fled, according to the complaint. Nino-Moncada shortly called 911 from an apartment complex several miles from the shooting scene requesting help and Portland Police and medical aid responded, police said.
During an FBI interview, Nino-Moncada allegedly admitted to intentionally ramming the Border Patrol vehicle and acknowledged he knew they were immigration enforcement vehicles, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, there is no body-worn camera footage of the incident and no surveillance or social media video has been found.
Nino-Moncada and his passenger — identified by DHS as Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras — remained hospitalized in stable condition, police said Friday.
Both allegedly have ties to the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, according to DHS and Portland police.
DHS alleged that Zambrano-Contreras, a Venezuelan national, is known to be involved with a TdA prostitution ring and was allegedly connected to a July shooting tied to a prostitution deal gone bad.
Nino-Moncada, who was previously ordered removed by a judge in Denver in 2024, allegedly drove the woman during her prostitution activities, according to the complaint.
“According to a newly unsealed complaint, Luis Nino-Moncada — an illegal alien in Portland, Oregon with ties to Tren de Aragua — is alleged to have repeatedly rammed a Border Patrol vehicle, threatening the lives of federal law enforcement officers,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on X on Monday. “He should NEVER have been in our country to begin with, and we will ensure he NEVER walks free in America again.”
The incident in Portland came a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in her car in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparking outrage and backlash against the presence of federal agents there. Similarly, the mayor of Portland called for immigration enforcement operations to halt while the investigation is ongoing.
In the Minneapolis case, federal officials alleged the motorists tried to run over an agent, who fired defensive shots.
