Prosecutors say a Minneapolis grocery owner turned food assistance into a wholesale shopping budget, trafficking more than $1.1 million in SNAP benefits and funneling the goods back to his own store in less than six months.
Abdid‑Wahid Mohamed, owner of a Minneapolis grocery, was charged Tuesday in a Hennepin County criminal complaint that accuses him of using other people’s EBT cards to buy products from wholesale retailers, including Sam’s Club and Costco, then reselling those items at his storefront. The complaint covers purchases reported between March 8, 2021 and Aug. 10, 2021 and lays out felony counts that, if proved, carry significant prison time and fines.
As reported by KSTP, investigators say Mohamed owned Minnesota Food Grocery LLC near West Lake Street and was spotted making bulk buys of items like energy drinks and baby formula with EBT cards that did not belong to him. The court filing cited in that report states that “Mohamed received $1,141,082 in EBT payments” during the period in question. According to the complaint, video surveillance and GPS data tied his trips from wholesale clubs back to his shop, reinforcing the suspicion that the goods were destined for resale.
How investigators say the scheme worked
According to FOX 9, the probe kicked off when Walmart’s global investigations team flagged suspicious EBT transactions at Sam’s Club stores, triggering closer scrutiny from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Investigators launched surveillance, then on Aug. 10, 2021, officers executed search warrants tied to the case.
That same day, Mohamed was arrested at a Bloomington Sam’s Club, where agents say he was carrying an EBT card along with a handwritten note containing a PIN. Interviews with multiple EBT cardholders allegedly revealed that many had not used their cards at the stores where the suspicious purchases were logged, according to the outlet.
Charges, arrest and penalties
Prosecutors filed a felony food assistance fraud charge accusing Mohamed of trafficking SNAP benefits and reselling the resulting merchandise for profit, according to the criminal complaint. The filing characterizes the alleged operation as one that “involved a high degree of sophistication or planning or occurred over a lengthy period of time.”
If convicted, Mohamed faces a potential maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison along with fines. Those numbers reflect how seriously Minnesota treats large-scale fraud and related financial crimes, as outlined by KSTP.
Where this fits into a wider crackdown
The allegations land against the backdrop of a broader clampdown on abuse of nutrition and pandemic-era aid programs in Minnesota. As detailed by the U.S. Department of Justice, federal prosecutors have brought dozens of cases tied to what they describe as large-scale diversion of child-nutrition and related funds, leading to a stream of indictments and guilty pleas.
Those federal cases have put benefit integrity under a microscope. According to law enforcement, stepped-up scrutiny, cross-agency data sharing and closer monitoring of retailers have made it easier to spot odd transaction patterns that can signal fraud.
What SNAP is and why this matters
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is administered by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, which describes it as the cornerstone of the nation’s nutrition safety net. The program delivers monthly benefits through EBT cards, helping low-income households buy groceries.
Trafficking, which involves using someone else’s EBT card to buy goods and convert those benefits into resalable merchandise or cash, effectively diverts aid away from the people the program is supposed to serve. Federal and state agencies say that more sophisticated data tools and retailer oversight are key to catching and stopping that kind of abuse.
What’s next
The criminal complaint is now in Hennepin County District Court, and the case remains under active investigation. No trial date has been set.
The charges are still only allegations, and Mohamed is presumed innocent while the case moves through the judicial system. Investigators may continue combing through additional transaction records and could seek further charges if they find more evidence, according to FOX 9.
