An Upstate New York man was sentenced Wednesday to 1 yr in jail after admitting to buying and selling medicine and alcohol for meals stamps whereas working at a deli owned by his household, federal prosecutors mentioned.
Omar Alaidrus, of Schenectady, was additionally ordered to pay practically $320,000 in restitution to the U.S. Division of Agriculture, Meals and Diet Service and can serve three years of supervised launch.
The 24-year-old was taken into custody final yr on expenses of distribution of managed substances.
His arrest adopted a monthslong investigation by federal, state and native businesses.
In Might 2023, an undercover police officer went into the Schenectady deli and grocery the place Alaidrus was working behind the counter. In keeping with a felony grievance, Alaidrus used the officer’s digital advantages card to file a purchase order of $201.15 utilizing meals stamps, eliminated $100 from the money register, saved that money and gave the officer fentanyl tablets and the nervousness treatment alprazolam, marketed within the U.S. underneath the model identify Xanax.
Alaidrus additionally “unlawfully provided cash in exchange for food stamps and redeemed food stamps for other prohibited items such as Xanax, alcohol, and tobacco,” in line with prosecutors.
