An illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic was sentenced to 57 months in prison 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.
Apolinare Collado, formerly of Wethersfield, allowed customers to exchange food stamps for cash and other products not eligible for purchase with the benefit between 2003 and 2009, prosecutors said.
He pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud and was sentenced on Monday.
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.
Copyright The Associated Press
