PROVIDENCE, RI — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Rhode Island), published as received.
PROVIDENCE, RI – A Pawtucket man with a lengthy record of arrests and convictions for financial fraud who admitted to defrauding the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the U.S. Treasury out of more than $100,000 combined was sentenced today to federal prison, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.
Reynaldo Martinez, 32, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., to 73 months and one day of incarceration to be followed by three years of supervised release. Martinez pleaded guilty on April 2, 2025, to two counts of conspiracy and one count each of misuse of a Social Security number, and aggravated identity theft. He also admitted to violating the terms of federal supervised released he was serving at the time of his most recent arrest.
In this most recent case, court documents reflect that Martinez appeared in person at multiple Rhode Island Department of Human Services offices and filed fraudulent applications for SNAP benefits. Martinez fraudulently obtained at least 40 SNAP EBT cards through the use of stolen identities, stolen or fraudulent Social Security numbers, and/or fraudulent driver’s licenses. Martinez fraudulently secured at least $33,192.36 in SNAP benefits.
In a second fraud scheme, Martinez cashed altered United States Treasury checks made payable to himself. Martinez and co-conspirators obtained checks made payable to others, then altered the checks to reflect counterfeit or fraudulent driver’s licenses they presented when cashing or depositing the checks. The total amount of fraudulent U.S. Treasury checks cashed or deposited was approximately $79,532.32.
Court records illustrate that Martinez was previously arrested and convicted on multiple occasions in multiple states on fraud related and other criminal charges dating back to 2012. In November 2017, Martinez pleaded guilty in federal court to four counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of access fraud, and one count each of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, attempted access fraud, and interstate transportation of stolen goods. He was sentenced to 48 months of incarceration to be followed by three years of federal supervised release. Martinez’s most recent fraud schemes were launched while he was serving the term of supervised release.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter I. Roklan.
The matters were investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Office of Inspector General, Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Rhode Island Office of Internal Audit - Fraud Detection & Prevention Unit, Rhode Island Department of Human Services, Rhode Island State Police, Pawtucket Police Department, Warwick Police Department, West Warwick Police Department, Woonsocket Police Department, Foxborough, MA Police Department, and Walmart Global Investigations.
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