St. Louis, MO - JALIL AL-HANOOSH was sentenced to 15 months in prison on charges involving his scheme to buy food stamps from people for a discounted rate of cash, and redeem them at full value from the government. He additionally allowed customers to purchase ineligible items, such as cigarettes, telephones, rugs and other non-food items for food stamps.
According to court documents, Jalil Ibrahim Al-Hanoosh, owner of Babylon Grocery & Bakery, St. Louis, was authorized to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program. This authorization allowed him to accept and redeem SNAP benefits/food stamps for eligible food items. Food stamp benefits were issued in the form of Electronic Benefit Transfer cards (EBT). Between January 2008, through May 2012, Al-Hanoosh, through Babylon Grocery & Bakery, redeemed approximately $148,000 in illegal SNAP benefits using EBT cards.
Al-Hanoosh, St. Louis, pled guilty in October to one felony count of wire fraud and two felony counts of food stamp fraud. He appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Catherine D. Perry.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Anthony Franks and Dorothy McMurtry handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
