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An Afghan immigrant who owns a Salt Lake City convenience store and several of his relatives were indicted Wednesday for stealing as much as $1.3 million from the government by converting customers' food stamp benefits into cash they then pocketed.
Muhammed "Omar" Mullahkhel, 59, operates AJ's Kwik Mart at 268 South Main Street and was authorized to accept food stamps — formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — in 2004. The designation meant low-income Utahns issued a SNAP, or food stamp card, could use the device at Mullahkhel's market to purchase food.
But Mullahkhel is accused in U.S. District Court of devising an illegal scheme to redeem SNAP benefits for cash, by charging greater amounts to the card than the amount that a customer actually purchased, according to an indictment.
Between December 2007 and May 2011, a SNAP card would be given to a store employee along with a request to redeem the value on the card for cash, the indictment states. Employees asked a customer to purchase inexpensive items, such as cigarettes, but allegedly entered an amount on the card greater than the actual expense. About 50 percent of the cash value of the transaction over the value of the product would be refunded to the customer and the other 50 percent was kept by the store, the indictment states.
Excess SNAP funds were put in a bank account and were distributed among employees of the store, according to the indictment.
On a business application to participate in the food stamp program Mullahkhel estimated annual food sales eligible for purchase with a SNAP card at $175,000. But AJ's Kwik Mart redeemed more than $1.3 million in food stamp benefits from December 2007 through February 2011, the indictment states.
Mullahkhel is indicted on numerous felonies, including one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud; 13 counts of SNAP benefits fraud, once count of access device fraud and five counts of money laundering. Also indicted on the same charges are four of the man's relatives: Ajmal "AJ" Omar Mullahkhel, 24; Bilqis Shahnaz Mullahkhel, 26; Nargas Parwana Mullahkhel, 28; and Abdul Subur "Mumtaz" Mullahkhel.
The group faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison if convicted of wire fraud; five years for SNAP benefits fraud; 15 years for access device fraud and 10 years for money laundering.
An arraignment date had not been set for the group as of late Wednesday.
The Mullahkhel family has been in the news previously.
In April 2008, the Mullahkhel family mourned the murder of 19-year-old Farhad Ahmad Mullahkhel in a melee that broke out in a West Valley City yard. Mullahkhel was beaten with knives and boards by Nazir Rahimi, then 28, who admitted to fatally stabbing the teenager because he was angry that Mullahkhel's sister had ended a relationship with him.
At a 2009 sentencing for Rahimi, defense attorneys said the man had watched radical Islamists gun down two older brothers in front of his family and that Rahimi relived that childhood horror when several of the Mullahkhel brothers forced their way into Rahimi's Murray home to argue about the broken marriage engagement.
Rahimi was ordered to serve up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree felony homicide by assault.
The day before the stabbing, Rahimi's girlfriend, Nargas Mullahkhel, had ended their 18-month relationship. The fatal fight occurred when the victim and three of his brothers arrived at Rahimi's home to retrieve their sister's cell phone.
Several Mullahkhel family members who are now defendants in the federal case made passionate statements at Rahimi's sentencing.
"Nazir Rahimi, the gates of heaven will not open to you — not in this life or in the next," said Bilqis Mullahkhel.
Abdul Mullahkhel said: "I ask God to bring upon your [Rahimi's] family as much pain and suffering as you have caused my family." He called Rahimi "a wolf in sheep's clothing," who took advantage of his family's trust.
Rahimi's attorney then accused the Mullahkhels of waging a 16-month feud against Rahimi and his family, which included several assaults and an attempt to hire someone to kill Rahimi.
After the hearing in 2009, Omar Mullahkhel, denied there was any animosity between the families until his daughter decided she would not to marry Rahimi. He said his family wasn't violent.
A message left at Omar Mullahkhel's West Valley City home was not returned on Wednesday.
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