Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 24, 1995 TAG: 9510240051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Food stamps can be used in place of cash to buy all sorts of provisions: meat, bread, milk, ice cream, fruit. Among the things they can't be used to buy: automobiles.
A Melrose Avenue used-car dealer is accused of twice accepting food stamps as payment for automobiles. His alleged customers, however, turned out to be undercover federal agents.
A federal indictment in Roanoke charges that in April, Joseph Spangler accepted $3,090 in food stamps from an agent from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in exchange for a Honda at his dealership, Sport Motors. The USDA administers the federal food stamp program.
Spangler also is accused of accepting $6,000 in food stamps for a Buick Skylark in June.
Reached at Sport Motors Monday, Spangler, 63, said he was unaware of the investigation or the indictment. "I don't know anything about that," he said. "I haven't done that."
An arrest warrant issued Friday had not been served on him. The two charges carry a penalty of up to 25 years in prison and a $260,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Giorno said the cars Spangler is accused of selling were worth considerably less than the amount of food stamps paid for them. He said the stamps have yet to be traced to find out who cashed them in to the government.
The investigation was prompted by complaints that Sport Motors had sold cars for food stamps in the past, Giorno said. He said agents approached Spangler about paying for the cars that way.
In addition to the food stamps, a small amount of cash was paid for the cars. The government charges that the value listed on the titles for the cars was much less than the amount paid. The Skylark, for example, was listed as being worth less than $1,000, even though the agent had handed over $6,000 worth of stamps and some cash for it. Illegally acquired food stamps are used as currency on the black market, to buy groceries legitimately, or sold cheaply to an authorized grocer, who then turns them in to the government for face value. Giorno said he's seen crack dealers who accept food stamps in payment.
"People traffic in food stamps for all sorts of things they're not supposed to. There's a number of ways to make money on them," he said. A car dealer accepting them "is not unusual."
by CNB