HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges against 11 Philadelphia-area business owners who were involved in a fraud scheme related to the Commonwealth’s WIC program, which supports low-income mothers and their children. The charged individuals are alleged to have forged invoices and submitted them to the WIC program for reimbursements.
In total, the charged defendants submitted more than $1 million in reimbursement requests and received nearly $1 million from the Department of Health-administered program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
The defendants are charged with felony counts of theft by deception, forgery, and tampering with public records. Nine of the 11 defendants were taken into custody and arraigned Wednesday.
“These business owners, for years, intentionally defrauded a state program designed to promote wellness for mothers and their children,” Attorney General Sunday said. “This type of criminal activity doesn’t just victimize taxpayers by defrauding the government, it hurts the women and children who rely on the services programs like WIC provide.”
Charged are:
- Margarita Collado
- Musa Berry
- Amaury Gomez
- Felix Sosa
- Fransico Garcia
- Patxi De La Cruz
- Raquel De La Cruz
- Johanna Luciano-Valera
- Ramon Fernandez
- Two other individuals who are not being identified as they are not in custody.
The defendants and their businesses — grocery and convenience stores — were approved WIC vendors when they submitted the false claims between 2021 and 2025. Office of Attorney General agents inspected thousands of receipts and performed audits that revealed paperwork was forged and fabricated.
WIC vendors are required to submit invoices from approved distributors for purchases of food and infant formula — products which they then provide at their store locations to WIC recipients.
In all, agents identified nearly 10,000 fraudulent reimbursement requests — nearly 9,000 of those were fulfilled, resulting in $985,000 in total losses to the Commonwealth.
The defendants and their respective businesses received the following reimbursement totals, based on false claims:
- Felix Sosa (El Paisano Express Food): $342,183.94
- Musa Barry (Uncle Musa Grocery): $226,557.88
- Business owned by an individual not yet in custody: $105,880.04
- Ramon Fernandez (Compare & Save Supermarket): $70,907.09
- Carmen Luciano (Carmen Grocery, Inc): $60,922.44
- Margarita Collado (Kendra Mini Market): $55,982.66
- Business owned by an individual not yet in custody: $42,834.16
- Amaury Espinal Gomez (Liberty Mini Market, Inc.): $40,120.61
- Raquel De La Cruz and Patxi De La Cruz (co-owners of Tioga Food Market 1 Inc): $39,864.83
- Francisco Garcia (Garcia Super Deli Market): $773.38
The cases will be prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Andrew Biggins. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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