Tulsa Convenience Store Owner Sentenced for Stealing Nearly $300,000 From Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

TULSA, Okla.– Milton Islam, 47, of Broken Arrow, and owner of Apache Food Mart in Tulsa, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing $282,912 from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, announced United States Attorney Danny C. Williams Sr. for the Northern District of Oklahoma. In addition to the prison sentence, United States District Court Chief Judge Gregory K. Frizzell ordered Islam to pay $282,912 in restitution to the United States Department of Agriculture. Islam was indicted by a grand jury in March 2015 and pleaded guilty on May 12, 2015.

At the change of plea hearing, Islam admitted that from May 26, 2011 to July 31, 2014, he stole from SNAP using a scheme in which customers used their SNAP benefits to receive cash, rather than nutritional assistance. The cash customers received was only half the amount that Islam received from SNAP.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture-Office of the Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorneys Clinton J. Johnson, Shannon Cozzoni, and Catherine Depew prosecuted the case.

SNAP offers nutrition assistance to eligible, low-income individuals and families. To report suspicious Nutrition Assistance fraud, call the Oklahoma Fraud Hotline at (405) 521-3444 or email OIGFraud2@okdhs.org, or contact the United States Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General at (800) 424-9121. For information on SNAP, visit www.fns.usda.gov/snap.

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