Phoenix police arrested three people and seized more than $600,000 in cash in connection with a fraudulent food-stamp operation at a Phoenix convenience store, authorities said.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
Kameel Sweiss, 51, and sons Ameer Sweis, 22, and Faday Sweis, 33, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of illegally conducting an enterprise, fraudulent schemes and artifices, money laundering, unlawful use of food stamps and computer tampering, according to Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Grisham said the investigation yielded the largest seizure related to food-stamp fraud in Arizona history.
Sweiss owns K & S convenience store on 27th Avenue near Bethany Home Road, where the alleged scheme took place. His sons also work there.
Grisham said the men overcharged food-stamp cards, and in some instances gave cash back to the cardholder in exchange for whatever value remained on the card.
“People were essentially selling their cards to (the) store,” Grisham said.
The Phoenix Police Department executed search warrants early Wednesday at the Sweiss’ home in Peoria and the convenience store. Some of the evidence seized included $32,876 in cash and the key to a private bank vault that held $550,480 in cash. Additional evidence seized included bank records and accounts, extraneous food stamp cards, business ledgers, and three vehicles, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The months-long investigation was a coordinated, undercover operation of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Phoenix Police Department, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, and the Arizona Department of Economic Security. The Arizona Department of Revenue took part in the search of the store in an ongoing, separate investigation.
