Three people have been arrested on fraud-related charges after a probe of alleged misuse of food stamp cards at Star Grocery, a convenience store on Mettacahonts Road in Accord.
Star Grocery has been under ongoing investigation into the use of electronic food stamp cards to buy non-food items for nearly two years, since March of 2011. The Ulster County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at the business on Wednesday, February 6, and seized property and business records.
Arrested were 35-year-old Qadeer H. Shah, 39-year-old Lori A. Shah, and 34-year-old Alsa P. Quent, all Accord residents. All three were charged with the felonies of misuse of food stamps in excess of $3000.00, falsifying business records in the first degree and grand larceny in the third degree. The three were arraigned in Rochester Town Court and released to reappear at a later time.
The Times Herald-Record reports that the three were all managers at the store.
Food stamp fraud can be extremely lucrative for businesses like Star Grocery, though it carries a high price for conviction. In June of 2012, the owner of a convenience store in Kingston, Kanwarjit Singh, was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison for a food-stamp fraud scheme that netted the store about $1 million in illegal profit:
In the scam, which authorities said took place from early 2009 until late 2010, food stamp clients brought their benefit cards to the Sunoco Convenient Mart at 675 Broadway, got half the value of the cards back in cash, and then bought liquor, tobacco and other items that can’t be purchased with food stamps.
The business kept the other half of the money, authorities have said.
Many of the business's customers were also arrested during the investigation, and some were disqualified from the food stamp program for life.
