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Hartford County residents Javed Saeed, age 52, and 68-year-old Dastgir Saeed, both of South Windsor, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, May 10, to conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Javed is the owner of the Manchester Quick Mart and Mobil gas station, which is located at 262 Oakland St. in Manchester, the US Attorney's Office reported.
His father, Dastgir, along with Siddiq Chaudhary and Mohammed Khan, helped him operate the store, the announcement said.
Javeed and Dastgir Saeed, Chaudhary, Khan, and others allowed customers to redeem their food stamp benefits for cash and ineligible items, such as gasoline and male enhancement pills, between January of 2017 and January of 2020, according to the report.
They charged the food stamp cards a premium of nearly 50 percent for the illegal transactions, the US Attorney's Office said.
Javed and Dastgir Saeed agreed to pay restitution of $211,208 in total, the US Attorney's Office reported.
They are set to be sentenced on Tuesday, Aug. 2, the report said.
Chaudhary and Khan, both of South Windsor, previously pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud and one count of engaging in food stamp fraud, the US Attorney's Office said.
The investigation was conducted by the US Department of Agriculture and the Office of Inspector General, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations.
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