WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A Wichita grocery store owner will go to federal prison for his part in a scheme that paid customers cash for less than the value of their food stamps and pocketed the difference.
Ahmed Al-Maleki was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten to six months in prison followed by six months of home detention. The owner of Kansas Food Market had pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and food stamp fraud.
Marten also found that the loss to taxpayers amounted to $130,000, and ordered Al-Maleki to pay restitution in that amount.
Marten said there are consequences to breaking the law. But he also imposed a sentence below advisory guidelines because Al-Maleki’s wife speaks no English and cannot drive, making it difficult to care for their five children.
