GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The owner of the Billy Goats Pub in downtown Green Bay, along with a bar manager and employee, have been charged with food stamp fraud.
Owner Sue Long and bar manager Jodie Hanbeck are accused of buying electronic food benefit cards for cash and then using the Quest Cards to buy pizzas, chips and other food to give away for free to customers on Packers game days.
According to the criminal complaint, the food benefit cards were generally purchased for $50 cash in return for $100 in food stamps.
Long and Hanback are facing more than 4 felony charges and 28 misdemeanor charges. A bartender, Victoria Cannon, is facing a felony and misdemeanor charge.
Long says she thought she was helping people who needed money to get things they could not get unless they sold their food benefit cards. She says she only recently found out that they were using the cash to buy alcohol and cigarettes.
The city attorney’s office says Long has surrendered her liquor license and the bar is closed.