An Anchorage store owner pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of criminal forfeiture in U.S. District Court Thursday.
In a written statement, the district attorney’s office said 44-year-old Ayub Yusef Eprahin reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and faces a maximum two years in jail and $250,000 fine. According to court documents, Eprahin accepted federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments for ineligible items and illegally traded SNAP benefits for cash between July 2011 and February 2013.
A federal indictment against Eprahin states he redeemed more than $335,000 in fraudulent SNAP benefits while working as the owner of the Africa and Middle East Market. The SNAP program, formerly known as food stamps, authorizes recipients to use an electronic benefit transfer card to purchase certain food items at authorized locations. Eprahin was charged with allowing customers to purchase non-food items with their EBT cards, according to the indictment, as well as processing fraudulent SNAP transactions and distributing cash to program participants in exchange for a share of the benefits.
Eprahin agreed to forfeit $42,489.44 in fraudulent proceeds as part of his guilty plea, the district attorney’s office said, and he’s set to be sentenced Nov. 7 in Anchorage.