Convenience Store Owner, Son-In-Law Charged In Fraud Scheme

The scheme allegedly involved the use of Electronic Benefit Cards (EBT cards) at the Sam’s Mart convenience store on Academy Ave in Middletown.

Police say the store’s owner, 59-year-old Ahsan Chaudhry of Middletown, would allow New York residents with EBT cards to exchange them for cash. Typically, the card-holder would receive a fraction of the card’s balance in cash.

Chaudhry and his son-in-law, 24-year-old Ammar Ahmad, also of Middletown, would then use the balance on the EBT cards they acquired to purchase inventory for the store at numerous locations around the Middletown area.

Chaudhry and Ahmad were arrested after police carried out a search warrant on Wednesday, Dec. 5. Chaudhry was charged with the following felonies:

• Criminal use of a benefit card in the first degree
• Criminal possession of a forged instrument in the first degree
• Criminal possession of a benefit card in the second degree
• Possession of counterfeit tax stamps

Chaudhry was also charged with the following misdemeanors:

• Misuse of food stamps
• Welfare fraud in the width degree
• Possession of or sale of unstamped cigarettes

Ahmad was charged with:

• Criminal possession of a benefit card in the second degree
• Welfare fraud in the fifth degree

Both subjects were arraigned in the City of Middletown Court. Chaudhry was released on his own recognizance. Ahmad was remanded to the Orange County Jail in lieu of $1,000 cash or $2,000 bond.

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