An Atlanta social media personality known as “Shawty Dred” is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $4 million in food stamp benefits through more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts. The U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta says the accounts were opened with stolen identities between January 2020 and July 2026. The man, Mercedes Reshard New, 39, was arrested October 13 and is presumed innocent.
How the indictment says 350 accounts were built
A federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted New on October 7. The indictment alleges he controlled more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts opened with stolen identities, and had the EBT cards mailed to various metro Atlanta addresses. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a USDA program that gives monthly food benefits to low-income households.
In Georgia the Division of Family & Children Services, known as DFCS, runs SNAP for the state. The indictment says DFCS was tricked into transferring about $4.6 million to the fake accounts, and that about $4 million of it was drained through EBT card use. The accounts sat in the names of real people, and the release does not say how many of them there were.
Beneficiaries receive EBT cards and may not sell or trade their benefits, the release notes. That rule matters in this case because it describes two kinds of misuse: cards issued under false names, and benefits sold through a store. The release lists both.
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The Justice Department’s national announcement adds a detail about the phone line. Investigators with the Georgia Department of Human Services inspector general found that phone numbers linked to New made more than 9,000 calls to the SNAP EBT phone system and reached over 350 accounts. More than 500 Georgia EBT cards are linked to him, and the department estimates the loss at $4.4 million.
The store, the arrest and the 14 cards
New also applied for his company, Shawty Dred LLC, to become an authorized SNAP retailer. Between April 2024 and November 2025, the indictment says, he used fraudulently obtained EBT cards and a point-of-sale device tied to the company to take more than $600,000. USDA revoked the store’s authorization in November 2025.
About two weeks later, local police arrested New for allegedly selling SNAP benefits at a metro Atlanta store. Officers seized 14 EBT cards issued to other people. The indictment says he then had replacement cards mailed to his store address and other Atlanta addresses.
The grand jury returned 46 counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of SNAP fraud and one count of illegal transactions with access devices. The release does not state the possible sentences. New was held by the U.S. Marshals Service after his October 13 arrest in Las Vegas, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracia King is prosecuting.
What officials said about the Instagram posts
The release says New’s Instagram account has more than two million followers. Posts on it allegedly show private jets, Rolls-Royce and Maybach vehicles and large amounts of cash. U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg said New allegedly stole over $4 million meant for poor families who need help putting food on the table.
USDA Inspector General John Walk said New allegedly stole food benefits from low-income Georgians and flaunted his wealth on Instagram and TikTok. Walk said his office will not look the other way on fraud, in step with Vice President J.D. Vance and the White House task force on fraud. FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said the money allegedly paid for a luxurious lifestyle. The Georgia Department of Human Services inspector general helped investigate.
The Atlanta case is one of the cases in a nationwide enforcement surge the Justice Department announced the same day. The department says it took action against more than 40 defendants since September 1, with nearly $42 million of the losses involving SNAP. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, “Every instance of SNAP fraud has two victims: families in dire need and taxpayers.”
What Georgia SNAP households can check
The release gives no phone number for DFCS, and it does not say how the agency found the accounts. A Georgia household with a question about its own case can find the state office through the USDA state directory. The federal agency says it has no information on individual applications, so the state office has to answer any question about a single account.
Complaints about USDA programs can go to the inspector general, which takes confidential or anonymous reports online through its hotline page. Walk said the surge “is only the beginning.”
The indictment is an allegation, and the government has to prove it at trial. What it leaves open is who the real people behind the 350 accounts are, and how many of them learned of the case only when the indictment was made public.
Could a SNAP account exist in a name its owner never used?
The Atlanta indictment says stolen identities opened more than 350 accounts, and the state agency paid about $4.6 million into them. A household that learns about a problem in its own name has to deal with the state on the state’s schedule, with the right papers.
The SNAP & Medicaid Renewal Organizer does not detect fraud and is not a government product. Part 7 covers reporting changes and EBT problems, the 51 state packs give each state’s SNAP and Medicaid rules, and the renewal and reporting calendar gives a household one place to keep every date the state sets.
Get the SNAP state pack and reporting calendar for your state →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
