It's Payback Time - Louisiana Walmart Free For All, Ends With Lost EBT Benefits

Who here didn't hear about the Walmart food grab in Louisiana the day the cards malfunctioned on Oct 12, 2013? The official tally was that over 12,000 people stole food that they were not entitled to. Many here thought there was little chance of Walmart recouping their lost money. And that also there was little chance of the individuals being held accountable.

Well surprise! For once it is nice to be able to say that crime does not pay. So if you are one of the more than 12,000 with EBT cards that generated an insufficient funds notice after the system came back up, you can be expecting to hear from your local EBT branch shortly. The one time offender will find themselves without food stamps for a year. People that have abused the system in the past could lose their benefits for two years or even permanently.

Maybe if they punished all food stamp crimes like this we wouldn't have any EBT card abuse. And for those that may feel the penalty is too stiff, just consider those poor fools as being fortunate that they are not facing jail time for theft.

The Jindal administration vowed late Wednesday to strip food stamp benefitsfrom recipients who misled retailers about their spending limits during a technical malfunction. Recipients who walked away with groceries that exceeded their food stamp balances face losing their benefits for a year, two years or permanently depending on how many prior infractions they have. Exactly how many stand to be punished is unclear. More than 12,000 transactions generated insufficient funds notices once the electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, system came back online Oct. 12 and retailers could process stored transactions.

Louisiana Goes After Food Stamp Abusers

reply to post by elouina


Does a YT video count as a one liner?

reply to post by elouina


This IS good news. I was infuriated by the attitude of the local police, saying that the shoppers had NOT committed any crime!

Springhill's Lynd arrived at his town's Walmart store at about 7 p.m. local time and found a few hundred shoppers jamming checkout lines with carts filled to overflowing.

Lynd said he told the manager that the store had a right to refuse service, but the manager said she had contacted Wal-Mart headquarters and was told to accept the cards.

The shoppers "decimated the grocery section of Walmart," Lynd said.

The shoppers broke no laws, Lynd said, adding that police intervention was not required to disperse the crowd. At about 9 p.m., Walmart said that the glitch had been fixed and the EBT cards were again showing appropriate spending limits.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

REALLY!?

Payback time is right!

from one link in the original story;

In Springhill, police detained a woman who pushed a cart with $700 in groceries up to a cash register despite having less than 50 cents on her food stamp card. Wal-Mart instructed police to release the woman without citing her.

I'm sure the woman was confused and thought an automatic raise had miraculously happened !!

For some that over drew it could have come to much more than they could buy in a year. Will they have to repay?

reply to post by superman2012


Best non one liner I have seen at ATS. Loved it!

windword
reply to post by elouina

 

This IS good news. I was infuriated by the attitude of the local police, saying that the shoppers had NOT committed any crime!

Springhill's Lynd arrived at his town's Walmart store at about 7 p.m. local time and found a few hundred shoppers jamming checkout lines with carts filled to overflowing.

Lynd said he told the manager that the store had a right to refuse service, but the manager said she had contacted Wal-Mart headquarters and was told to accept the cards.

The shoppers "decimated the grocery section of Walmart," Lynd said.

The shoppers broke no laws, Lynd said, adding that police intervention was not required to disperse the crowd. At about 9 p.m., Walmart said that the glitch had been fixed and the EBT cards were again showing appropriate spending limits.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

REALLY!?

Payback time is right!

edit on 8-11-2013 by windword because: (no reason given)

Yeah and police intervention was not required to disperse the crowds either. They all took off and abandoned carts the second their balances started to show. Yup, no problems there. Too bad those fools didn't get caught also.

antar
For some that over drew it could have come to much more than they could buy in a year. Will they have to repay?

It looks like they will be repaying in a sense now won't they? I wonder if some of the repeat offenders with even stiffer penalties were people that did it that very night. You know take the groceries home and go back for more? Every cart has its price. Tee hee..

Double post, sorry.... But why waste space? I just love happy endings like this! Even better than Pretty Woman's.

"Reply to entire thread"

Time for some poor hungry kids to starve

But oh well, not like it effects me, until the riots atleast.

tehdouglas
"Reply to entire thread"

Time for some poor hungry kids to starve

But oh well, not like it effects me, until the riots atleast.

edit on 8-11-2013 by tehdouglas because: (no reason given)

And what would happen to those poor hungry kids while their parents are in jail? They are getting off easy.

So are you saying that it is acceptable for people to steal from others as long as they have children? Every American except for those with infertility issues are capable of having children. Does this mean no one should be punished for theft crimes? "Whoops soo sorry, you are poor and have children, nah no need to pay back the money you stole from me." Yeah right, get a grip.

tehdouglas
"Reply to entire thread"

Time for some poor hungry kids to starve

But oh well, not like it effects me, until the riots atleast.

edit on 8-11-2013 by tehdouglas because: (no reason given)

If any children starve, then it is on the parents shoulders and not Jindals, the foodstamp program, anyone.

It is the parents that shoulder all responsibility for this.

THEY are the ones that'll have to look in their childrens hungry faces and tell them that it was their fault.

reply to post by elouina


Existing thread here