Seattle police uncover EBT trafficking ring exploiting homeless and drug addicted

Since July, SPD’s West Precinct officers have conducted surveillance operations to expose how the organized network targets people receiving government food benefits. Officers observed suspects approaching groups of homeless people, offering small cash payments, often just half the value of their EBT balances, in exchange for their cards or food purchases.

According to West Precinct Captain Marc Garth Green, officers “carved time out of their work schedules over three months” to document the trafficking operations. “We observed suspects walking through groups of unsheltered individuals asking who had an EBT card with money on it,” Capt. Green said. “They would then take that person to a store with a shopping list.”

In one scheme, suspects used EBT cards to buy food and household goods, paying cardholders cash worth roughly 50 percent of the items’ value, before reselling the goods to restaurants, businesses, and private buyers. In another version, suspects purchased entire EBT cards, often $200 balances, for $100 cash, along with PIN codes, then used them directly for bulk purchases.

SPD officers found that the ring operated in organized shifts, morning, afternoon, and evening crews, that worked independently but were aware of one another’s activities.

The investigation revealed an alarming overlap between food benefit trafficking and narcotics sales. “Officers found that narcotics sellers were aware of the EBT schemes and that the addicted people now had cash on hand,” Capt. Green said. “They [the drug dealers] would then be in the area selling narcotics to take advantage of the influx of cash.”

SPD’s probe, which spanned five dedicated surveillance days between July and October, has so far identified 18 suspects. Eleven have been arrested, while seven remain at large.

King County Prosecutors have filed felony charges against two of the alleged ringleaders, Ha Son Thach, 54, and Lien My Khuu, 50, who were both charged with five counts of Unlawful Trafficking in Food Stamps.

According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Thach’s bail was set at $10,000 following his first court appearance. Khuu was released on personal recognizance despite prosecutors requesting $5,000 bail. Both defendants are scheduled for arraignment on October 22 in King County Superior Court

Court filings obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI accuse Thach and Khuu of conducting EBT transactions worth hundreds of dollars using cards belonging to vulnerable individuals, including $769.61 in benefits belonging to one victim, all on a single day in September 2025.

In a bail memorandum, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Fyall wrote that the defendants “are driving an illicit marketplace in which people who are addicted to drugs can readily sell food benefits for cash.” He emphasized that “the cash is often… immediately used on the same sidewalk to purchase and smoke narcotics,” sometimes in direct view of the traffickers.

Fyall argued that these crimes “should be considered a violent offense” due to their connection to fatal overdoses, citing King County Health Department data showing 716 confirmed drug overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2025, with more than 10 percent occurring near Lam’s Seafood Market and surrounding neighborhoods.

SPD says the department has partnered with the King County Prosecutor’s Office and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) throughout the investigation, with more arrests expected as the case develops.

The Seattle Police Department confirmed that the remaining suspects are being sought and that officers are continuing to identify restaurants, stores, and individuals who may have purchased goods obtained through EBT trafficking.