Michigan Attorney General charges Detroit party store owner, employees with fraud

A.G. charges three with racketeering, conspiracy, food stamp fraud

DETROIT – Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Friday he had charged three southeast Michigan residents with felony counts of racketeering, conspiracy, and food stamp fraud for their roles in an alleged $262,000 food stamp fraud operation at Schaefer Dollar Mania in Detroit.

The charges resulted from a joint investigation conducted by the Michigan State Police Bridge Card Enforcement Team and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General.

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"Food stamp fraud is theft from Michigan families who are struggling to put food on the table," said Schuette. "We will continue to work with law enforcement across the state to find and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse – Michigan taxpayers deserve nothing less."


From January 2011 through September 2011, it is alleged that the owner of Schaefer Dollar Mania (13445 Schaefer, Detroit), Dani Mohamed-Kama Itani, 37, of Canton, and two of his employees allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for products that did not qualify for purchase through the program.

Investigation by the Michigan State Police revealed alleged purchases of ineligible items with SNAP funds, including clothing, electronics and watches. The estimated total value of the fraudulent purchases allegedly made from Schafer Dollar Mania is $262,000. The employees who processed the fraudulent transactions include: store manager Hassan Raychoini, 54, of Dearborn Heights, and Raed Youseff, 22, of Dearborn.