A Louisiana man is accused of taking part in a $1.2 million food stamp fraud scheme with two others, investigators say.
Mustafa Abdel Abdelatif, 45, was arrested Wednesday and charged with several counts of fraud, including unauthorized use of food stamps, criminal conspiracy, possession of stolen items, racketeering, bank fraud, computer fraud, and money laundering, the Town Talk reported.
He remains in jail on $175,000 bond and has not yet received a court date.
Abdelatif’s co-defendants in the case, Mohammad Abudayeh, 25, and Danny Assaf, 47, were also booked into jail on similar counts.
Abudayeh remains in jail and is set to be arraigned in court on June 28, while Assaf remains free on bond as of April 25.
State police arrested the three men after investigators noticed an unusually high amount of food stamps being trafficked between October 2017 and March 2019. Investigators began their query into the convenience store, the Food Mart in Alexandria, in June 2018.
Convenience store owners who have committed food stamp fraud have paid big time for their crimes.
Recently, the owners of an Ohio butcher shop pleaded guilty in court to taking part in a $3.4 million food stamp fraud scheme.