An Upstate New York man was sentenced Wednesday to at least one 12 months 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 stated.
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 12 months on costs of distribution of managed substances.
His arrest adopted a monthslong investigation by federal, state and native businesses.
In Could 2023, an undercover police officer went into the Schenectady deli and grocery the place Alaidrus was working behind the counter. In accordance with a felony grievance, Alaidrus used the officer’s digital advantages card to report a purchase order of $201.15 utilizing meals stamps, eliminated $100 from the money register, saved that money and gave the officer fentanyl drugs and the anxiousness medicine alprazolam, marketed within the U.S. beneath 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.
