A Southold man was one of ten arrested in a food stamp scam, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said this week.
Schneiderman, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, announced a 25-count indictment against two Suffolk County convenience store owners/operators and one store employee, along with seven Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients for illegally trading cash for hundreds of thousands of dollars in SNAP benefits, a release put out by the AG’s office said this week.
“It’s unconscionable that anyone would steal from a program designed to provide nutritional assistance to New Yorkers in need, especially those harmed by Hurricane Sandy,” said Schneiderman. “There has to be one set of rules for everyone, and that is why my office will hold these individuals accountable and attempt to recover the nearly $1 million stolen from this crucial program.”
David Cantwell, 46, of Southhold was charged with grand larceny in the fourth degree, felony, and misuse of food stamps (over $1,000), a felony, Schneiderman said.
Manjeet Chadha, 48, of North Bellmore and Sajjad Rashid, 43, of Rocky Point, co-owners and operators of Mastic Supermarket Corp. in Mastic, and Haricharan Malhotra, 41, of Mastic, an employee of the store, were charged with felony grand larceny, misuse of food stamps, and falsifying business records for orchestrating a scheme to steal nearly $1 million from the government program; the seven SNAP recipients also face grand larceny and misuse charges, Schneiderman said.
If convicted, Rashid and Malhotra each face up to 15 years in prison. Chadha faces up to seven years behind bars. Three of the seven recipients also face up to seven years in prison, while the remaining four recipients, charged with lesser counts of felony grand larceny and misuse, each face up to four years behind bars, Schneiderman said.
“This type of crime is particularly egregious because it takes advantage of a government program aimed at providing nutrition for our most needy recipients,” said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Edward Webber. “We will continue to work in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that those who are fraudulently using SNAP will be brought to justice.”
Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone added, “SNAP is a vital social program for the most vulnerable families, children and the elderly, in Suffolk County who are at risk of going hungry, and it must be protected from waste, fraud and abuse. I commend Attorney General Schneiderman for shutting down a scheme that drained resources from New Yorkers who truly need them.”
In addition to the criminal charges, Attorney General Schneiderman filed a civil suit Monday seeking restitution in an amount of $973,000 against Sajjad Rashid, Manjeet Chadha, Haricharan Malhotra and the corporation, Mastic Supermarket Corp., which was also criminally charged.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the USDA allocated an additional 50 percent in benefits to all SNAP recipients in affected areas, without regard to need; the seven recipients charged in the indictment received the Sandy benefit and illegally exchanged their SNAP benefits for cash at Mastic Supermarket Corp. shortly after the storm, Schneiderman said.
SNAP recipients are issued a benefit card for purchasing specified food items. But, according to the indictment unsealed this week, Rashid, Chadha and Malhotra processed phantom SNAP transactions in cooperation with the seven SNAP cardholders. Instead of using their SNAP benefits for food, the cardholders received cash equaling half of the amount of these fake purchases, and Rashid, Chadha and Malhotra kept the remainder of the money for themselves, the release said.
The investigation revealed that in the 10 months from March to December 2012, Mastic Supermarket Corp., rang up over $564,000 in SNAP benefits, higher than redemptions in comparable stores located nearby, where the totals ranged from $14,000 to $24,000, the release said. In November 2012, after all SNAP cardholders in Suffolk County received the emergency Hurricane Sandy SNAP award equal to 50 percent of their monthly benefit, SNAP redemptions at Mastic Supermarket Corp. exceeded $75,000.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
