The husband-and-wife owners of a North Side restaurant and deli will serve seven years of probation each, with the first year under electronic monitoring, after pleading guilty to running a scheme that siphoned more than $178,000 in food stamp benefits to stock their businesses with groceries. Rachna Anwar and Munir Chaudhri operated Lillen's Restaurant and an adjoining deli at 535 East Ohio Street in Pittsburgh's East Allegheny neighborhood while living on Peebles Road in McCandless Township.
Anwar and Chaudhri pleaded guilty to felony charges of fraudulent trafficking in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, corrupt organizations, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity with intent to promote, according to WKBN.com. The plea deal excluded prosecution on various other charges the couple had faced since being charged in January 2026 following a state Attorney General's investigation. Court documents reported by TribLIVE showed the pair conducted 834 fraudulent transactions using 453 separate EBT cards over four years at a Sam's Club in Ohio Township, Giant Eagle, and Tom Friday's Market, loading up on commercial quantities of meatballs, mozzarella sticks, creamer, and bottled drinks.
Investigators determined the couple did not simply misuse their own benefits — they bought access to other people's cards. Anwar and Chaudhri bought discounted EBT cards from benefit recipients and used them to make purchases at big-box retailers.
How the Scheme Came to Light
The investigation began in January 2025 after a Sam's Club location on Mount Nebo Road in Ohio Township flagged suspicious purchasing patterns to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, per the same account from TribLIVE. Attorney General Dave Sunday said the defendants manipulated a system designed to help underserved residents in order to increase their own business profits, and that investigators had to review hundreds of transactions to uncover the full scope of the scheme, according to WKBN.com. The AG's office release cited by WKBN.com put the total at more than 800 transactions involving roughly 450 EBT cards, mostly for food items purchased for resale at the restaurant and deli. Judge Jennifer Salter ordered Anwar and Chaudhri to pay restitution in addition to the probation terms.
A Wider Pennsylvania Crackdown
The case was handled by the Attorney General's Organized Retail Crime Section, a unit launched on July 1, 2024, following Act 42 of 2023, that, through September 2026, had opened more than 170 complex investigations, made over 100 arrests, and served more than 222 search warrants, according to the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.
Pittsburgh has featured prominently in that broader enforcement effort. In a separate federal case, prosecutors charged a manager and employee at a Downtown Pittsburgh 7-Eleven with trafficking more than $600,000 in SNAP benefits using fake UPC codes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Statewide, the Pennsylvania Office of State Inspector General reported in May 2026 that it had filed public benefits theft charges against 1,495 individuals totaling more than $10 million in stolen funds since 2023, with a conviction or disposition rate above 95 percent.
New Penalties and a Chip-Card Overhaul
Lawmakers in Harrisburg have moved to toughen the legal response to benefit card exploitation. The Pennsylvania Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 362 in June 2026, which reclassifies SNAP and EBT card skimming as a third-degree felony for a first offense and a second-degree felony for repeat offenses, per the Pennsylvania Senate. The bill also extended the statute of limitations to five years.
Pennsylvania's budget included an investment in EBT card upgrades, paired with federal matching funds, according to the Altoona Mirror. Older magnetic-stripe EBT cards have weaker protections and are vulnerable to skimming.
Anwar and Chaudhri's court disposition resulted in probation and restitution rather than incarceration.
