St. Louis grocer facing fraud charges

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis grocer accused of fraud is now in the custody of U.S. customs agents. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported 48-year-old Ebraheem Naif was arrested Monday at Washington Dulles International Airport after arriving from Kuwait. Naif owns Abe's Gravois Discount. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in November on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of food stamp fraud. Authorities say Naif allowed customers to use food stamps for ineligible items, but fraudulently represented those sales to the government. Between 2009 and May 2012, his store allegedly redeemed $1.9 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.