NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (PNN) - November 6, 2013 - Remember last month when EBT cards in Louisiana showed no limits? Remember how all of those EBT users had a chaos-fueled shopping spree and emptied store shelves within hours?  Remember how one woman with only 49 cents left on her card tried to leave with $700 worth of food?

Well, the governor of Louisiana remembers too, and he has taken the unprecedented move of canceling the benefits cards for every person suspected of participating in the fraudulent free-for-all.

More than 12,000 people were sent an insufficient funds notice when the problem with the EBT cards was fixed on Oct. 12; those who transgressed may lose their EBT cards for a year.

Suzy Sonnier, the secretary of state at the Department of Children and Family Services, released a statement saying, “We must protect the program for those who receive and use their benefits appropriately according to the law. We are looking at each case individually, addressing those recipients who are suspected of misrepresenting their eligibility for benefits or defrauding the system.”

It all started on October 12, when technical problems plagued the EBT system across the country. 17 states were affected. Most of the benefits recipients couldn’t use their cards at all, causing mini-riots across the country when they were unable to buy food for their families. Within a few days, the USDA had sent notices to the states ordering them to freeze Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) funds as a contingency plan because of the bogus government shutdown. Meanwhile, in a few places in Louisiana, the EBT malfunction caused the cards to show no limit, and many stores allowed users to shop anyway.

Even though the accepted policy is to allow benefits recipients to purchase $50 worth of groceries in the event that cards malfunction, many stores did not limit purchases. Grocery carts were filled with reckless abandon and users gleefully left the stores with hundreds of dollars worth of ill-gotten supplies.

It looks like dishonesty was not the best policy, however.

Those whose cards have been cancelled may appeal the decision in hopes of having their benefits restored, but if they lose the appeal, they could lose their benefits anywhere from one year all the way to forever. Suzie Sonnier wrote, “Louisiana’s current SNAP policy allows a one year sanction from the program for a first offense, a 24 month suspension for a second offense, and a permanent disqualification for a third offense.”

Let’s hope, for their sakes and that of their innocent children, that the fraudulent shoppers purchased long-term storage foods, because it looks like they are going to need it. As always, it’s the children who will really pay the price for the criminal actions of their parents. Through greed, dishonesty, and an entitlement mentality, these folks have just created their own SHTF event.