Mobile County Businessman Sentenced to One Year Probation and Ordered to Pay Restitution After Felony Conviction for Trafficking in Contraband Cigarettes

United States Attorney Richard W. Moore of the Southern District of Alabama announced that Sakhoeuth Khan, a 33 year old resident of Mobile, Alabama was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,093.05.

On December 18, 2018, Sakhoeuth Khan entered a guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement and admitted in open court that in 2018, A cooperating citizen (CI) identified Khan as an individual he illegally sold cigarettes to in the past, which allowed Khan to knowingly evade the taxes due on the cigarettes that was required by the Alabama Dept. of Revenue.

The ATF set up an undercover operation designed to confirm this conduct and to show that it continued.  The ATF agents used the CI to act in an undercover capacity along with an undercover law enforcement officer to sell quantities of contraband cigarettes on numerous occasions to Khan that did not have a visible paid cigarette tax stamp affixed.

From December 5, 2017 through May 24, 2018, the CI sold approximately 650 packs of untaxed Newport cigarettes to Khan for various amounts of money on five different occasions while Khan was at Two Lions, her place of business located at 763 Summerville Street, Mobile, Alabama.  The amount of cigarettes sold to Khan exceeded 10,000.  The tax loss to the State of Alabama is $438.76.  The tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service is $654.29.    

Officers of the Mobile, Alabama Police Department and special agents of the ATF investigated the case and brought it to the U. S. Attorney's Office for prosecution.  The prosecutor assigned to the case is Assistant United States Attorney, Gina S. Vann.