‘Robbin Hood’s’ food stamp scam sickens

No matter how much money they’re making as criminals, at least 98% of the crooks in the United States now seem to be moonlighting at a secondary racket.

Welfare fraud, in one form or another.

C’mon down, Rafael Davila, a/k/a “Robbin Hood,” a 35-year-old career thug from Feeding Hills, MA. The feds say he may be the most prolific catalytic-converter thief in U.S. history, which is why the G-men are asking the judge to hit him with a 198-month bid at his sentencing in Boston federal court next Tuesday.

“Robbin Hood” and his crew of merry men made hundreds of thousands of dollars ruining maybe as many as 1,300 vehicles in Massachusetts and New Hampshire over the past few years.

But that wasn’t Robbin Hood’s only criminal enterprise. His crew burglarized jewelry stores, stole at least three ATMs in Massachusetts and generally ran amuck across the entire Northeast.

However, in his spare time, this fabulously wealthy gangster found time to apply for… food stamps. Check out his application with DTA – your tax dollars at work.

In their sentencing memorandum, the feds single out one of his thefts in particular – stealing the catalytic converter from a food pantry’s delivery truck.

“This was a simply cruel act,” the U.S. attorney writes. “This theft impacted needy families who actually are struggling to make ends meet and prevented food from reaching their tables.”

Now, that’s bad. But there’s more, and this is where the welfare fraud comes in. Take it away, acting US Attorney Josh Levy:

“In a remarkable twist, the Defendant himself decided that paying for groceries with the money he was making stealing from food pantries was simply too much to bear.

“He applied for food stamps – lying under oath about his income and bank account balances in the application, while he had six motorcycles in his basement, two jet skis in his backyard, and three vehicles in his driveway.”

Not to mention a whole bunch of firearms which I’m sure were lawfully registered – NOT.

“Not only did the Defendant steal from the American taxpayer and divert funds from welfare programs designed to help those less fortunate, but he was willing to destroy the truck used to actually deliver food to those who were the most vulnerable, the elderly and infirm. All this, to make money for himself, and keep more of it in his pocket.”

Are we sure 198 months in prison is enough for Robbin Hood?

You know how sometimes you hear politicians pooh-poohing certain “minor” crimes? Often in the context of how they don’t want to deport illegal aliens for something they describe as minor, like, say, car theft or burglary.

Obviously, if you have personally had your home robbed, or your car stolen, you did not consider it a “minor” crime. You want the perps locked up, permanently. Actually, you’d probably like to bring back capital punishment for the punks who robbed you. I know that’s how I felt.

It’s the same with catalytic converter theft. You may not know how bad something like this can screw up your life until it happens to you. But it’s not like in the old days of losing a hubcap, or having your gas cap stolen.

When the catalytic converter is cut out of your car, you’re bleep out of luck until you can get it fixed. And it’s not like getting an oil change.

Think deductibles, rental cars, missed appointments, lost overtime…. Thousands upon thousands of dollars it will cost you, as it did cost Robbin Hood’s 1,000+ victims.

And they did this to hundreds and hundreds of taxpaying American citizens. But what did they care? They were on the dole.

For their pre-sentencing memo, the feds included any number of victim-impact statements, showing how their daily lives were adversely affected. Here’s a compilation:

“One individual had to share cars with (their) fiancé and there were several days I was unable to drive to work because of schedule conflicts…. A supply company in Canton MA reported being targeted on two nights for five vehicles and suffering $12,114 in costs…. An individual lost use of car for 26 days and suffered a $96 increase in their insurance premium….

“A kitchen business reported $5,648 in costs to repair their truck… A financial service business said ‘the theft did affect them emotionally’…. One individual from Fitchburg reported being targeted twice and reported a feeling of helplessness from suffering the crime twice…. A home health care company reported having to pay about $6,000 in cost for rental vehicles to continue to serve their clients… A victim from Shrewsbury reported they paid $2,318 in costs and lost a day of work and their son did not go to school….”

And all the while Robbin Hood was getting food stamps! All the people he’d robbed were paying to keep him living large, as if he wasn’t living large enough already.

A poor old lady from Easthampton reported having to pay a $1,000 deductible and $281 for a tow.

“(I’m) disabled and it really put me off the edge. I was so upset, I couldn’t go up and babysit my grandkids in Russell, so that I was really put out on that.”

But Robbin Hood is like every other criminal these days, scamming welfare on top of every other grift. Look at all the indictments across the country every day for COVID relief welfare fraud.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the local feds convicted ex-Sen. Dean Tran, a longtime member of the Mass GOP’s crackpot Kool Aid Kult. This bum was a big-time conservative, running around with the lunatic likes of Jim “Jones” Lyons and Geoff “DoorDash” Diehl, denouncing government corruption while he was stealing hot stoves without gloves and then coming back for the smoke.

Consider those four illegal aliens grabbed for sex crimes down on Nantucket this month. I guarantee you that every last one of them was collecting at least some kind of welfare, even if it was just going to the emergency room for free health care.

And that was just the tip of the foreign pedophiles’ welfare iceberg, guaranteed. As the old song from West Side Story goes, “Everything free in America!”

At least if you’re a criminal, foreign or domestic.

Just ask Robbin Hood.