Hartford, CT – An illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic faces sentencing for using straw owners to operate several grocery stores in Hartford that he used to defraud the federal food stamp program of about $1.6 million.
Federal prosecutors say Apolinare Collado allowed customers to exchange food stamps for cash and other products not eligible for purchase with the benefit between 2003 and 2009.
The former Wethersfield resident pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud. He faces sentencing Monday in Hartford.
In 1998, Collado was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was later deported after he was convicted of food stamp fraud, tax fraud and immigration offenses.
He had been detained since January 2009 for immigration violations.
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