Food truck owner charged in sneaky SNAP benefits fraud scheme for hundreds of thousands of dollars

The owner of a seemingly overachieving food truck in Santa Ana has been charged with SNAP benefits fraud after federal officials flagged the truck’s staggering financial numbers.

Soriano Produce, an unsuspecting food truck that touts its “fresh products,” redeemed more SNAP benefits than several large grocery stores in the area, and had an average transaction totaling $151.41 from April 2025 to April 2026, the indictment said.

Three other nearby vendors had an average purchase amount of below $55 in the same time period.

Despite the food truck’s relatively low profile, the business had a store dollar volume of more than $640,000, more than six times its nearest competitor. Soriano Produce was the highest-redeeming SNAP benefits store, despite having more than 9,700 fewer transactions than the closest store. 

The alleged fraud comes as the state contends with SNAP fraud estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

Owner 48-year-old Esmeralda Soriano allegedly gave undercover officers $50 in cash for $100 in SNAP benefits in May. Soriano reportedly told the officer, “If you come back, don’t ask my husband because he would not do it.”

Undercover agents again approached Soriano later in the month, who charged the EBT card $172 and gave the officer $80 in cash.

Soriano has been charged with two counts of illegal trafficking in SNAP benefits.

Federal officials said the store’s one scanner and many back-to-back transactions combined with the monstrous SNAP totals raised red flags.

“Its lack of scanners coupled with consistent high-dollar transactions and rapid back-to-back transactions are indicators of possible fraud,” the indictment said.

A dozen transactions at the store using EBT-SNAP totaled more than $1,000, well above the California average of $17.72 for a fruits-and-vegetables store.

Through undercover operations and surveillance, an officer discovered that the truck had a countertop checkout area that had food and non-food items. One can use SNAP to purchase food items, but non-food items such as houseware and toiletry are ineligible.

Dwight Llewellyn, an agent for Homeland Security Investigations, said the food truck had one device to process all food stamp transactions, but the record of transactions appeared sketchy.

“Based on my training and experience, the lack of scanners, coupled with consistent high-dollar transactions, and rapid back-to-back transactions, are indicators of possible fraud,” he said in the complaint.

Soriano will be arraigned Aug. 13 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. She is currently out of custody on a $5,000 bond.

If convicted of both charges, Soriano could face up to 10 years in federal prison.

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