Food stamp fraud in Everett, WA
A big town about 60 miles due South of Bellingham, WA - from the Everett
Daily Herald:
Everett store raided in food-stamp investigation
A police raid on a downtown mini-mart Tuesday morning was the culmination of a 17-month investigation into food-stamp fraud.
Fraz A. �Tony� Mushtaq, 34, the owner of the A One Smoke & Grocery store at Everett and Colby avenues, is suspected of paying people cents on the dollar for access to their state food-benefits cards.
He also is under investigation for allegedly buying and selling merchandise shoplifted from area stores, money laundering and selling an illegal form of synthetic marijuana known as �spice,� police say.
Everett police believe a significant amount of the store�s inventory has been ill-gotten, said Lt. Jim Duffy, who leads the special investigations unit.
The police department has received complaints about the store for several years, he said.
A bit more:
The investigation started gaining momentum in fall 2012 when police established a relationship with an informant who reportedly was delivering stolen goods to the store.
�That opened the door for us,� Duffy said.
Police believe the amount of stolen merchandise moved through the store, including pop, energy drinks and cigarettes, could total in the millions of dollars. Careful financial investigation has documented hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable transactions, Duffy said.
And they pulled out the stops:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture�s Office of Inspector General assisted with the investigation. So did the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Attorney�s Office.
Local grocery stores, including Safeway and QFC, donated merchandise for undercover detectives to sell to Mushtaq as part of the sting. The USDA also supplied �undercover� food-stamp cards.
A bit more:
During the investigation, Mushtaq was seen on multiple occasions carrying stacks of the food cards, each wrapped with a piece of paper with the PIN numbers and details about the balance, according to police. One stack of cards was described as a half-inch thick.
Records showed his store computer equipment was used to check balances on cards more than 500 times. That involved more than 300 cards over about 18 months, police say. It�s unusual for a cardholder to check the balance at a location and then not make a purchase, according to investigators. After checking the balance at his store, Mushtaq then allegedly would make a large purchase at a bigger store.
Follow the money:
Mushtaq is from Pakistan and became a U.S. citizen a couple of years ago, Duffy said. Investigators believe he was sending money from his store back home to Pakistan.
They found no evidence the money was being used there for any improper activities, Duffy said.
Emphasis mine -- yeah riiiight... I bet the Feds would have a different story if they weren't being led by such incompetent swivel-headed loons.
I hope the two of them spend a long time behind bars and then get deported. This is not a matter of a mistake or poor education, this is abject fraud.
Posted by DaveH at March 1, 2014 5:10 PM