DETROIT – Federal investigators said a Detroit couple used stolen identities from victims across the country to fraudulently secure Michigan food assistance benefits totaling at least $1.1 million.
34-year-old Kirk Woodley and his girlfriend, 31-year-old Chantel Peavy, both of Detroit, were each charged with five counts: food stamp fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. They both pleaded guilty to fewer counts: Woodley, who had already been in jail on other charges, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy and Aggravated Identity Theft, while Peavy pleaded guilty to Conspiracy.
The span of their alleged crimes
A special agent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General said the investigation into Woodley and Peavy began in 2016 -- a year after the pair is accused of starting the “food assistance fraud scheme.”
Woodley and Peavy engaged in this scheme from May 2015 to about 2024, investigators said: “Over the course of that time, they have defrauded the SNAP program of at least $1.1 million.”
Investigators said the couple applied for SNAP benefits through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), but the personal information used in those applications, federal authorities said, came from dozens of people across the country, including New Jersey, Arizona, Missouri, Washington state, Colorado and California.
The lengthy investigation
The investigation started in 2016, and investigators said they determined Woodley and Peavy made applications to MDHHS for SNAP benefits using victims’ personal identifiable information. Woodley and Peavy also allegedly recruited individuals to sell fraudulently obtained EBT cards after approval by the state.
Investigators said Woodley and Peavy “engaged in this scheme” from about May 2015 to about mid-2024. The feds said they arrived at $1.1 million “by tabulating victim applications and benefits issued.” They also said the majority of victims are non-Michigan residents whose “only connection to Michigan is the food application.”
In May of 2015, records show a non-Michigan resident had allegedly applied for food assistance benefits at a home in Detroit. For about two years, SNAP benefits were received. In January of 2024, investigators interviewed the person, “who confirmed they did not apply for SNAP benefits in Michigan and stated they never lived in or visited the state.”
In March 2017, investigators said they conducted a search warrant related to access device fraud and identity theft at Woodley and Peavy’s home on Archdale in Detroit. There, they found multiple EBT card numbers in other people’s names written on pieces of paper. There were also “multiple Wayne County Department of Human Services mailings to individuals” not named Woodley or Peavy, investigators said.
Selling EBT cards
Woodley was allegedly interviewed the same month and denied applying for and receiving EBT cards that were not in his name. Investigators said they later interviewed a man who admitted to buying EBT cards from a man known as “Bud.” “Bud” was later identified as Woodley.
Woodley allegedly provided the man 2 to 24 EBT cards per month. The man allegedly said he then sold the EBT cards to other people and returned $100 to Woodley per card. The feds said Woodley also paid the man $10 cash per card and allowed the man to “keep EBT cards for personal use.” The man told investigators that Peavy also helped Woodley “with EBT card dealings.”
Surveillance footage
From January to May 2023, investigators said they caught Woodley on camera using an EBT card at Fairlane Food Center for $350 and again for $281. Then again, at Walmart in Dearborn for $26 and later for $48. He then allegedly used it at Walmart in Taylor for $345.
The person whose name was on the card told investigators they had never been to the state of Michigan and had never applied for SNAP benefits before. In March 2023, MDHHS closed the victim’s case due to suspected fraud. Just two months later, however, another application was submitted to MDHHS for benefits under that person’s name, which were approved. Two months after that, in July 2023, the case was closed again, due to suspected fraud. In December 2023, another application was made, but that application was denied.
In March 2023, a person’s EBT card was used at a Metro Detroit Walmart for a $99 Red Bull energy drink purchase.
In May 2023, both Woodley and Peavy were seen on video at a Metro Detroit Meijer using two fraudulent EBT cards. The feds said in two different SNAP transactions, Woodley purchased 8 12-packs of Monster Energy drinks, 2 Red Bull Watermelon 12-packs and 15 Red Bull 12-packs. The total was about $530.
In November 2023, Woodley and Peavy were seen on Walmart surveillance video using an EBT card in someone else’s name for about $165. A month later, the couple is seen on surveillance video at a Metro Detroit Walmart using an EBT card belonging to someone else for about $99.
Woodley and Peavy were seen on surveillance later in December 2023 and again in January 2024 at Walmart, and later in 2024, purchasing items at Walmart for $586 using personal information from people in Colorado and California.
In December 2023, Woodley was interviewed by investigators and admitted to using a friend’s EBT cards “a couple of times” but denied creating EBT cards in other people’s names.
‘Peavy signed her real name by mistake’
According to court records, investigators discovered overlaps between suspected fraudulent FAP applications and addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses used by Woodley and Peavy. They said one address on 29th street in Detroit, for example, had been used “for over 20 suspected fraudulent FAP applications” from 2016 to 2021.
Federal investigators said at one point, it appeared Peavy had been filling out an application for Woodley, but “Peavy signed her real name by mistake.”
Investigators said they also discovered that Woodley and Peavy had been using the Archdale Street address in Detroit for “over 20 suspected fraudulent FAP applications between May 2015 to February 2017.”
Woodley and Peavy’s next court dates
Woodley, who has a history of receiving and concealing stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon, retail fraud, and other charges out of Wayne County, is scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday, April 10, 2026. His plea hearing is scheduled for May 7, 2026. Woodley pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft.
Peavy is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29, 2026. She pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud.
Both Woodley and Peavy face up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine (or twice the loss) and 3 years of supervised release for the Conspiracy charge alone.
Background on the Food Stamp Program
The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is commonly referred to as the Food Stamp Program. It’s designed to “raise the level of nutrition of low-income households” and is funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and largely administered in Michigan by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS) and MDHHS.
To become eligible to participate in SNAP, you are required to complete, sign and submit a FAP application to MDHHS. Then, the applicant’s expenses, assets and income are reviewed to determine program eligibility. To receive SNAP benefits, the recipient may not have more than $15,000 in assets and vehicles. The applicant must be a Michigan resident and U.S. citizen, “or possess acceptable alien status.” Verification documents are requested to confirm the information submitted on the application. Applicants are then told to sign and agree that the information they are submitting is truthful, that they will repay benefits they received that they should not have, even if it is the department’s error, that they will cooperate with state or federal reviewers for an audit, etc. Upon signing, the applicant also agrees to release information for program needs, to use benefits legally, and to provide paperwork that shows what they told the department is true: “I have told the truth; I understand that I can be held criminally responsible for lying on this application,” one application said.
Federal authorities said the application also includes language about perjury prior to the applicant signing: “Under penalties of perjury, I state that I have reviewed this application and to the best of my knowledge and belief, the answers I give within this application are true, including household, citizenship, and non-citizenship information, and I have listed all amounts and sources of income and property I receive/own.”