Two people who had no legal right to be in America just got caught stealing food benefits meant for Florida's poorest families.
Now Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is making sure they face the consequences.
What they bought with your tax dollars will make your blood boil.
Stolen EBT Cards, Energy Drinks, and a Ring Built on Fraud
The scheme wasn't complicated. It didn't need to be.
Carlos Ruben Gomez Jimenez and Maite Lazara Mesa Labrada – both of whom entered the United States illegally two years ago – allegedly joined three others to steal EBT card numbers and personal identification information from real victims across the Orlando area.
They used that stolen information to go shopping.
Monster energy drinks. Red Bull. Coffee. Bottled water.
Not groceries to feed their families. High-demand resalable goods they could flip for cash.
That's the scheme.
Steal benefits from struggling Florida families, convert them to merchandise, and pocket the profits.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2072290513848266924?s=20
The Orlando Police Department cracked the case, with crimes stretching across both Orange and Seminole counties.
The five suspects – Gomez Jimenez, Mesa Labrada, Carlos Luis Diaz Jimenez, Enrique Gonzalez, and Luis Gonzalez Dominguez – now face charges of organized fraud and public assistance fraud.
Both Jimenezes face additional charges for criminal use of personal identification information tied to more than ten victims each.
Gonzalez and Carlos Luis Diaz Jimenez also face charges of dealing in stolen property.
Prison sentences, if convicted, could range from three years to 40 years depending on individual charges.
This Is a National Playbook and Florida Is Shutting It Down
This is an organized playbook being run across the country.
ICE and the Secret Service identified the exact same scheme operating in Los Angeles – foreign nationals targeting EBT accounts, buying resalable goods, flipping them for cash.
In operations from February through April 2025 alone, federal agents arrested 32 suspects.
Twenty-seven of them were foreign nationals.
In California, more than $100 million in stolen EBT funds was reported in a single year – with authorities recovering over 300 cloned EBT cards in one two-day operation.
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The USDA confirmed the scale in 2023: $10.5 billion – that's billion with a "b" – in improper SNAP payments went out the door in a single fiscal year.
About 12 percent of every dollar spent on food assistance was paid out incorrectly.
Biden looked at those numbers and did nothing.
Uthmeier Built Florida to Catch This
James Uthmeier launched a Public Assistance Fraud Protection Task Force in April 2026 specifically to hunt these networks down before they spread.
"Florida is not going to tolerate organized schemes that steal taxpayer-funded benefits intended for Florida families," Uthmeier said. "We will continue to work alongside our law enforcement partners to identify every individual connected to this scheme and hold them accountable."
Special Counsel for Public Assistance Fraud Scott Strauss is prosecuting the case in the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
More arrests may be coming.
Florida is also the first state where every law enforcement officer is certified under Section 287(g) – meaning every cop in the state has authority to assist ICE.
Uthmeier was held in contempt of federal court last year for refusing to stop enforcing Florida's immigration law after a federal judge blocked it.
He said publicly he'd do it again.
The two people who crossed the border illegally and immediately started stealing food from Florida families just found out what that costs.
Sources:
- Drew Dixon, "James Uthmeier oversees arrest of 5 people accused of EBT fraud," Florida Politics, June 30, 2026.
- "Two Illegal Aliens Among Five Charged by Florida Attorney General for EBT Fraud Scheme," Florida Daily, June 30, 2026.
- "ICE, law enforcement partners arrest 8 illegal aliens, 1 American during large-scale EBT benefit fraud operation," ICE.gov, May 5, 2025.
- "Arrests of foreign nationals made in electronic benefit transfer card fraud scheme," ICE.gov, June 13, 2025.
- "USDA Ensures Illegal Aliens Do Not Receive Federal Benefits," USDA.gov, April 24, 2025.
