Nov. 4— Authorities said Thursday that the owner of a convenience store in Manchester was sentenced to just over a year in federal prison for plotting to steal $211,000 from the federal food-stamp program over three years by taking food stamps in exchange for cash and goods that were not eligible for the program.
Food Stamp Fraud
DEFENDANTS: Javed Saeed, 53, and his father, Dastgir Saeed, 69, both of South Windsor. Javed Saeed owns the Manchester Quick Mart on Oakland Street in Manchester.
Javed Saeed got a year and a day in prison, three years of supervised release, a $5,000 fine, and $211,208 in restitution, which he has already paid. Dastgir Saeed got two months in jail, two years of supervised release with home detention for two months, and a $2,500 fine.
In a separate hearing on Thursday, the owner’s father, who sometimes filled in for him, was sentenced to two months in prison for helping with the scheme by making fraudulent food stamp transactions, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.
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In U.S. District Court in New Haven, Judge Janet C. Hall gave the sentences to Javed Saeed, 53, who owned the Manchester Quick Mart, a Mobil station and convenience store on Oakland Street, and to his father, Dastgir Saeed, 69.
The federal sentencing guidelines said that Javed should get between 21 and 27 months in prison, and Dastgir should get between 12 and 18 months. Because Javed was in charge of the crime, his guideline range was higher.
Both men live in South Windsor with their families and share a house.
Javed Saeed’s sentence of a year and a day isn’t as bad as a one-year sentence would have been because federal prisoners can get good-time credits that cut their prison time by about 15% when the sentence is more than a year.
Multi-million dollar food stamp fraud by Muslim Americans busted in Illinois, Nevada and Utah http://t.co/icpajEwB
— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) December 15, 2012
In her sentencing memos for the two cases, prosecutor Anastasia E. King pointed out that the men would charge an extra $8 to $10 for each fraudulent $20 food stamp transaction.
The prosecutor wrote that Javed Saeed’s actions “allowed taxpayer money that was supposed to feed and feed the needy to be used instead to buy gasoline, cash, and other things that were not eligible, at a steep rate of surcharge.” She also said that Javed and his family would “make money” from this.
The men’s lawyers asked for leniency by pointing out that the men are otherwise good people and have clean records, and that they and their families have health problems.
Thomas J. Murphy, who is Javed Saeed’s lawyer, said that Mohammed Siddiqui said that Javed had helped start a food bank for people in need at their mosque.
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He also made a point of saying that Javed has already paid the full $211,208 he owed the federal government in restitution. He did this by getting loans from 13 people in his community.
The defense lawyer wrote that most defendants pay restitution in “modest monthly sums that are in line with their income after prison” and that the court and the government eventually lose the power to make even those payments.
Instead of letting his victim carry the weight of his loss, Javed took it on himself, where it belonged, the defense lawyer wrote.
FRAUD ALERT! We’ve received several reports of SNAP fraud in which thieves use “card skimming” to steal SNAP benefits. Learn about the actions you can take to prevent card skimming https://t.co/gYDKm3m4hc
— USDA Nutrition (@USDANutrition) October 19, 2022
Avery said that in addition to making Javed Saeed pay back the money, the judge fined him $5,000 and his father $2,500.
The U.S. attorney says that when Javed Saeed gets out of prison, he will have three years of supervised release, which is like probation. She said that Dastgir Saeed was given two years of supervised release, with the first two months spent in home detention.
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Murphy drew attention to the ongoing health problems. Javed Saeed has a serious skull fracture from when he was 20 and fell off a train in his home country of Pakistan.
Dastgir Saeed’s lawyer, Todd A. Bussert, wrote that both Dastgir and his wife have “multiple health conditions” and that Dastgir takes care of his wife by translating for her at medical appointments because she doesn’t speak English.
Alex Wood can be found on Twitter as @AlexWoodJI1, on Facebook as Alex Wood, and on Instagram as @AlexWoodJI. He tweets at @AlexWoodJI1 and covers crime and courts in North-Central Connecticut.
