{"id":267676,"date":"2026-05-12T06:29:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267676\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T06:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:29:05","slug":"florida-authorities-arrest-new-york-suspect-in-ebt-fraud-scheme-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/267676\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida authorities arrest New York suspect in EBT fraud scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A 19-year-old man from New York<\/a> is behind bars in Broward County<\/a> after investigators say he used stolen food assistance benefits to illegally rack up purchases at a South Florida Walmart.<\/p>\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the arrest of Thajanhney Tapahrelle Thomas of Brooklyn<\/a> on May 6, who police say targeted EBT cards <\/a>linked to at least two Florida <\/a>residents. Authorities say the case highlights a growing trend of organized fraud tied to public assistance programs. <\/p>\n

The arrest unfolded at a Walmart in Davie after an employee recognized a U-Haul<\/a> parked outside that matched a recent alert involving fraudulent EBT purchases of baby formula. According to investigators, Thomas and another man got out of the truck and headed inside, drawing attention almost immediately. <\/p>\n

Police say Thomas was seen loading up on several containers of baby formula, while the second man grabbed a large amount of other merchandise. At self-checkout, Thomas allegedly used two different EBT cards to pay before walking out toward the waiting U-Haul. That\u2019s when officers, already alerted to the suspicious activity, stepped in and detained him. <\/p>\n

Investigators say Thomas was carrying a New York ID along with two New York-issued EBT cards bearing different names. Despite the name differences, police say the cards contained matching information and were later confirmed to belong to two Florida residents. <\/p>\n

See also: Hiker’s remains found in Glacier National Park, could it be a missing Florida man?<\/a><\/p>\n

Thomas was arrested by Davie police and booked into the Broward County Jail. <\/a>He now faces a long list of felony charges, including unlawful use of food assistance benefits, organized scheme to defraud, communications fraud, criminal misuse of personal information, possession and use of a skimming or re-encoding device, and petit theft. If convicted on all counts, authorities say he could face up to 21 years in state prison. <\/p>\n

Uthmeier said the arrest reflects the state\u2019s commitment to protecting taxpayer-funded assistance programs meant to help vulnerable families \u2014 and sends a clear message to criminals operating across state lines. Davie Police Chief Stephen Kinsey also credited strong coordination between local, state, and private partners for bringing the case together. <\/p>\n

Officials say the investigation is still ongoing and additional charges are possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A 19-year-old man from New York is behind bars in Broward County after investigators…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-267676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}