title: IMMIGRANT Ghanaian Woman Pleads Guilty To $3.6 Million in Food Stamp Fraud…Media Ignores Her Immigrant Status
text: How many more are out there doing the same thing as Vida? If we ever needed a wake up call that this SNAP program is out of control this is it! This is your money but it gets worse Though Causey s massive fraud was noted none of the media reports mentioned her immigrant status.* In 1980 the U.S. had 10,000 immigrants from Ghana and by 2000 we had 235,000 immigrants from Ghana.She was more than forthcoming about it in an interview in 2007 that described her as a Ghanian native.At Ghana Celebrities.com they had this to say about Causey:Trust certain Ghanaians to take their  shenaniganism  to the backyards of whoever opens his country for them and while at it, they are sure to make global headlines with their  get rich schemes.  A Ghanaian based in Worcester, USA has pleaded guilty to $3.6 million fraud after she was busted for screwing the United States food stamp benefit system, which is to help support people of low income.She attended Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana from 1991-1994, according to her LinkedIn page. She enrolled in Quinsigamond Community College between 2003-2005 in Worcester where she studied electronics.In 2011 her community college bragged about her and called her a  success story. CONVENIENCE STORE FRAUDSTER TAKES $3.6 MILLION FROM THE AMERICAN TAXPAYERSConvenience store owner Vida Ofori Causey out of Worcester, Mass. was charged in federal court Monday after pleading guilty to $3.6 million worth of food stamp fraud.According to authorities, Causey abused the program between 2010 and 2014. Food stamps, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is run by local and federal agencies. It is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). She was able to scam the program by buying food stamp benefits from receipts for half the actual value. Causey purchased the benefits at a discounted value of approximately fifty cents for every SNAP dollar,  a press release from Department of Justice stated.  By so doing, Causey caused the USDA to electronically deposit into a bank account controlled by her the full face value of the SNAP benefits fraudulently obtained. As a result, recipients had cash on hand to buy restricted items. The restricted items could include alcohol, cigarettes and even drugs. The program is supposed to be used to provide food to low-come individuals and families. In total, Causey defrauded the USDA for approximately $3,638,900.SNAP is the nation s largest food-assistance program. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the program has increased from 17 million participants in 2000 to nearly 47 million in 2014.JUST A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION ON IMMIGATION FROM GHANA TO WORCESTER, MASS:The demographics of the City of Worcester underwent a considerable change between 2000 and 2010, according to a new report from the Worcester Regional Research Bureau. In  Worcester s Demographic Trends: 2010 Census,  the Research Bureau found that the city s African American population increased by 77 percent during the first decade of the 21st Century. During the same period, the Latino population grew by 45 percent and the Asian population grew by 31 percent as well.Meanwhile, the number of residents identifying as white decreased by more than 5 percent, even as the city s overall population grew by almost 5 percent to 181,045.Since bottoming out in 1980, Worcester s population has grown by nearly 20,000 residents, an increase of almost 12 percent over three decades.Surprising Demographic Shifts I think the most surprising was where people are coming from,  said Roberta Schaefer, president and CEO of the Research Bureau.As of the 2010 Census, 3,401 residents, or 9.63 percent of the city s foreign-born population, immigrated from Brazil, earning the South American country the top spot on the list.With 3,356 foreign-born residents, or 9.51 percent of the immigrant population, originating from Vietnam, the country came in a close second. Ghana rounded out the top three as the home country for 3,049 residents, or 8.64 percent of the foreign-born population in Worcester.Read more: Go Local WorcesterRead more: Daily Caller