WORCESTER – A Worcester woman who admitted last December to defrauding the government of nearly $300,000 in a cash-for-food-stamps scheme was sentenced to 8 months in federal prison Wednesday.

Esther Acquaye, 49, received the sentence after a U.S. District Court hearing in which a prosecutor rebuked her for involving her son, a minor, in her crimes and said stiff punishment was needed to deter similar fraud.

The government declined to say whether it found the sentence appropriate, or whether people who sell their food stamps for cash – referred to as “equally culpable” by its attorney – should be prosecuted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle L. Dineen Jerrett requested a sentence 29 months longer than what Ms. Acquaye received. The woman’s lawyer, Blake J. Rubin, argued for home arrest, noting that Judge Timothy S. Hillman in 2016 sentenced Vida Causey, a Worcester woman who stole more than $3.5 million in a similar scheme, to 1 year in prison.

Mr. Rubin called the sentence “very fair” after the hearing. Ms. Acquaye was ordered to pay about $285,000 in restitution – about $282,000 for the food stamp fraud and roughly $3,000 for also selling knockoff designer merchandise at her shop, Esther’s Fashion Paradise at 872A Main St.

Ms. Acquaye, a native of Ghana here legally for decades on a green card, was also sentenced to 3 years supervised release, though Mr. Rubin said she may be deported as a result of her felony conviction.

Ms. Acquaye admitted to participating in a scheme that has been ongoing in the city for years in which retailers swap cash for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

People with SNAP benefits are only allowed to use the money on their Electronic Benefit Transfer cards for food or seed purchases. In the fraudulent purchases, the retailer generally swipes the EBT card for twice the amount of money allegedly being spent, then gives the customer half and pockets the rest.

At the sentencing, Ms. Dineen Jerrett noted that many customers switched to Esther’s Fashion Paradise from J&W Aseda Plaza – Ms. Causey’s store – after that store and several others in the city were raided in 2014.

“If we don’t send a message including incarceration, this fraud is going to continue,” Ms. Dineen Jerrett told Judge Hillman. “It effectively sends a message that the fraud (is worth it).”

During the sentencing, Ms. Dineen Jerrett argued that people who sell their food stamps for cash are “equally culpable” as the shop owners.

Mr. Lelling’s office referred questions about whether the government has prosecuted or has considered prosecuting SNAP beneficiaries to the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the program. A USDA spokesman had not responded to the queries as of Wednesday evening.

The government appears to have evidence it could use to identify customers willing to exchange SNAP benefits for cash, as Ms. Dineen Jerrett in court documents said it identified 298 customers who swiped their EBT cards at both J&W and Esther’s Fashion Paradise.

Additionally, six customers seen on DVR surveillance confiscated from Esther’s Fashion Paradise over a three-day span in April 2016 were “repeat customers” at both that store and J&W.

“These SNAP beneficiaries are ‘participants’ in the fraud even if they are not charged and convicted,” she wrote. “This fraud could not occur without both parties to the transaction.”

Mr. Rubin, appointed by the court for Ms. Acquaye, argued the 49-year-old mother of three deserved leniency. He said she had no criminal record, had to drop out of school at age 10 to care for her brother and grew up very poor in Ghana with little education.

Mr. Rubin said allowing her to still work at Esther’s – which she still operates – would help her take care of her family and pay restitution.

Ms. Acquaye, who smiled as she spoke with supporters on her way into the courthouse, wiped away tears after asking Judge Hillman for leniency through an interpreter.

“I’ve done something wrong, and I’m pleading for forgiveness,” she said. “Since my childhood, nobody has ever taken care of me. I have been struggling throughout my life.”

Mr. Rubin, noting Ms. Acquaye pocketed about half of the $282,000 she admitted to fraudulently charging, argued she used the $140,000 not for an extravagant lifestyle, but to take care of her family.

Mr. Rubin said Ms. Acquaye, in addition to her shop, worked from 2008 to 2016 as a certified nursing assistant at three different health care providers to make ends meet. In court documents, he said she has less than $1,000 in her bank account and is in significant debt.

Ms. Acquaye has an outstanding mortgage on her 7 Taj Drive home of $280,000, Mr. Rubin said. City records show the 2,825-square-foot Colonial, which Ms. Acquaye co-owns with her sister, is valued at $363,700.

“It is clear from Ms. Acquaye’s financial circumstances that she did not materially benefit from her conduct in this case,” Mr. Rubin wrote in court documents. “Contrary to the government’s assertions, the government is not a victim factually, in that it has not ‘lost’ any sums in the sense that the amounts involved in this case were already awarded to the recipients.”

Ms. Dineen Jerrett pushed back strongly against that argument, saying it “significantly undermines” the seriousness of the crimes.

“Every time the defendant engaged in the illegal purchase of SNAP benefits for cash, she undermined the underpinnings of the program,” Ms. Dineen Jerrett wrote, adding that crimes like hers have a “deteriorating” effect on the SNAP program.

SNAP benefits have long been criticized by some who believe fraud to be widespread. According to USDA data, of the $66.5 billion in SNAP benefits paid in 2016, $593 million was discovered as being used fraudulently. That’s about 1 percent of the total.

Ms. Dineen Jerrett argued Ms. Acquaye deserved added jail time because, according to investigators, she allowed her minor son to help facilitate her crimes.

She said the woman and her son were doing the math during one fraudulent transaction for how much an undercover agent should receive, and that the son then handed his mom $80, half of what was charged to SNAP.

In a videotape played in court Wednesday, the investigator could be heard joking that it was good to keep the kids practicing math. The child did not appear to be visible in the video, but Ms. Dineen Jerrett said the agent witnessed him doing the math with his mother.

Mr. Rubin argued the child was just helping his mother at the store and there was no indication he knew anything she was doing was illegal.

Ms. Acquaye has until June 22 to turn herself in to begin her sentence. She declined to comment outside the courtroom.

TELEGRAM