BOSTON — A 74-year-old Haitian immigrant just admitted to stealing $6.7 million in food stamps from one of the smallest stores in Boston — a 150-square-foot storefront in Mattapan that somehow processed more than half a million dollars a month in SNAP benefits.

"I am entering into this Agreement freely and voluntarily and because I am in fact guilty of the offense(s)," Bonheur stated in the plea agreement he signed on Feb. 27. The document was filed in federal court on Monday.

The scheme ran for nearly four years out of Jesula Variety Store, a storefront in Mattapan roughly the size of a parking space.

SNAP recipients would walk in, hand over their EBT cards, and Bonheur would swipe them for the full value of the benefits — then hand back less than the full amount in cash. He pocketed the difference. Thousands of times.

The numbers are staggering. Monthly SNAP redemptions at Bonheur's store went from $6,467 in October 2023 to $157,937 by March 2024. By August 2024, they hit $540,870 in a single month. Every month in 2025 cleared $200,000, peaking at $358,472 in October — all flowing through a store smaller than most people's living rooms.

The electronic deposits landed in bank accounts Bonheur had set up to receive SNAP redemption proceeds. Between February 2021 and December 2025, the feds say he processed at least $6.7 million worth of fraudulent EBT transactions.

A second defendant, Saul Alsime — a Haitian national — allegedly ran a second shop, Saul Mache Mixe Store, out of the same Mattapan storefront. Alsime is accused of trafficking over $121,890 in SNAP benefits between May and December 2025. His case has been pushed to mid-May.

Wire fraud carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and restitution. U.S. Attorney Leah Foley has agreed to recommend sentencing at the low end of the guidelines.

The plea agreement includes a line that speaks for itself: "Defendant understands that, if Defendant is not a United States citizen by birth, pleading guilty may affect Defendant's immigration status. Defendant agrees to plead guilty regardless of any potential immigration consequences, even if Defendant's plea results in being automatically removed from the United States."

A hearing is set for March 30 in federal court in Boston.

"These men abused one of the government's most critical safety net programs for their own financial gain," Foley said at the time of the original indictments. "This is taxpayer money meant to keep people from going hungry. These defendants decided to take it for themselves."