“USDA OIG will not tolerate the violent and inhuman practice of dogfighting,” said Inspector General John Walk. “I commend our law enforcement agents for rescuing more than 100 dogs from this heinous cruelty and bringing the defendants to face justice.”

Today, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and USDA Inspector General John Walk briefed on the success of their partnership around Operation Stronghold – an education and outreach operation to fight SNAP fraud in Mississippi. These are exactly the types of successful partnerships – federal, state, and local – that will protect American tax dollars and help stop SNAP fraud across the nation.

"This week the USDA OIG announced its partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the launch of the National Fraud Detection Center (NFDC). As a signatory of the NFDC Charter, USDA OIG has committed dedicated analysts and investigators to the prosecutor-led effort to strengthen interagency coordination to detect and dismantle complex fraud schemes dramatically strengthening our ability to safeguard taxpayer funds.” - USDA Inspector General John Walk

“This ‘unknown man’ used the stolen identity of a child who died in 1977 to successfully obtain government benefits across numerous programs for 25 years beginning decades after the child’s death. Something is broken," said USDA Inspector General John Walk. "This underscores the importance of strengthening fraud prevention measures like upfront identity verification and data analytics to stop the fraud before it happens.”