California Man Held In Alleged EBT Funds Theft

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California prosecutors allege a man stole $750,000 in public assistance funds through an Electronic Benefit Transfer scheme that obtained personal information from 655 EBT card holders through scam text messages.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office said Friday that Jawuan Antonio Gibson used the information to create cloned EBT cards and withdraw funds from ATMs.

Gibson was arrested May 2 and booked into Los Angeles County jail. Authorities say agents seized $20,000 in cash at that time and a later search of his hotel residence turned up $950,000 in cash, ATM card readers and other equipment.

The case filed in Sacramento County alleges two counts of grand theft and one count of grand theft of access cards issued to four or more persons.

Defense attorney Carmen Butler declined to comment.