A store owner was busted in a major fraud case. Detectives say he pocketed more than $300,000 in EBT money over nearly a two year period.
Complaints came in from the community according to Cocoa Police.
Thirty-eight-year-old Prakash Patel was brought out of his store in handcuffs Wednesday afternoon.
The store is Mike's Shop N Save at the corner of Fiske Boulevard and Peachtree Street.
And Wednesday morning Cocoa Police raided it as the result of an 18 month long investigation with FDLE and federal agencies.
Investigators say Patel was allowing customers to use their EBT cards to buy beer, cigarettes, lotto tickets and K-2, the synthetic marijuana.
But he's also accused of taking it further.
"He will do a phony transaction, get $100 out from the card, keep $50 for himself and give you $50. So every transaction he's doing he's basically keeping half of the money," said Officer Barbara Matthews of the Cocoa Police Department.
Police say a store this size averages about $1,500 in EBT transactions each month. Patel's store totals anywhere from $6,000 to $12,000 per month. In 18 months, investigators say he tallied $367,000 in taxpayer funds.
"We don't know if we are going to be able to recover any of that money, but you're right, that's our money, taxpayer money," said Matthews.
Mack Davis of Cocoa watched all the police activity surrounding the store.
"He got away with it this far, but he finally got caught. That's the end of the story," he said.
Patel's wife showed up at the scene, frantically trying to get inside the store to see what was going on. Police told her she needed to go to the station to post bond for him to get out of jail.
Hours after the arrest, agents hauled off evidence from inside the store.
Patel is charged with Social Welfare fraud, money laundering, racketeering and sale of synthetic marijuana.
Cocoa Police say they suspect other local store owners like him are doing the same thing. They say more similar arrests are possible.