A New York City man was charged with selling drugs for food stamps at his East Harlem store Thursday.
Authorities arrested 26-year-old deli employee Yousif Mosleh for allegedly accepting food stamps for synthetic marijuana compound known as K2.
“Yousif Mosleh was charged with peddling dangerous synthetic drugs in New York City neighborhoods and funding his drug sales by abusing a system created to assist the most vulnerable in our society,” Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney in Manhattan said in a statement. “Thanks to the dedicated agents of the [U.S. Department of Agriculture and [Homeland Security], Mosleh can no longer profit from this illegal scheme.”(RELATED: Former NYC Official Exchanged Food Stamps For Bribes)
Investigators say they saw Mosleh sell packages of K2 for food stamps, allowing customers to pay for the drug with Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. EBT cards work a lot like a debit card, with the federal government loading the food stamps recipient’s welfare every couple of weeks. Cardholders aren’t allowed to redeem their benefits in cash, or purchase anything besides food with the money.
On one occasion, Mosleh reportedly refused to give cash in exchange for EBT benefits to a confidential witness working with investigators.
When the confidential witnesse asked to buy K2, Mosleh said he had several had several different types of K2, including “AK-47,” “Kisha Cole,” “Xtreme” and “Phantom,” but he did not have “Bob Marley” in stock. Mosleh sold the source several packages of K2, and accepted the food stamps as payment. (RELATED: Store Allegedly Let Food Stamps Users Buy MILLIONS In Bongs, Pipes)
K2, or spice as it is sometimes known, is a dried, leafy plant matter sprayed with chemicals that, when ingested, deliver a high similar to marijuana.
New York police found about 1,000 packages of K2 in Mosleh’s deli when they raided the store on July 23, 2015. Just a week later, cops seized 1,396 packages of the drug when they arrested Mosleh “on charges unrelated to this investigation,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s special agent who filed the complaint.
Mosleh faces two charges of distributing and possessing controlled substances and one charge of conspiracy to violate the regulations of the food stamps program, according to the U.S. attorney’s office announcement.
The food stamps program, also called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a federal welfare program managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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