ATTORNEY GENERAL COURTESY | Ravinder Parkash, 59, pleaded guilty to a food stamp scam in January. His wife also reportedly pleaded guilty.
The owner of a Riverhead gas station and convenience store was sentenced to up to four years in prison for stealing more than $668,000 from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over a four-year period. (more…)
ATTORNEY GENERAL COURTESY | Ravinder Parkash, 59, pleaded guilty to a food stamp scam Monday, reports state. His wife also reportedly pleaded guilty.
A Riverhead couple accused in 2013 of stealing more than half a million dollars in a food stamp scam pleaded guilty in state Supreme Court on Monday.
TIM GANNON FILE PHOTO | The state police barracks in Riverside.
Three people were charged after selling alcohol beverages to an undercover state police agent Monday night, state police said.
And the busts include one man who has had repeated run-ins with state and federal authorities.
Ravinder Parkash
Clerks Kenneth Powell, 16, of Flanders Deli, and Ingrad Moraga, 28, of Garden Deli, both on Flanders Road; as well as Ravinder Parkash, 60, of Shivani Gulf Gas and Food Mart on East Main Street in Riverhead, were each charged with one count of unlawful dealing with a child and one count of prohibited sale of an alcoholic beverage, according to a report.
Mr. Parkash and his wife were also arrested in June for running an alleged food stamp scheme out of the same East Main Street gas station market he has owned with his wife, according to reports.
He was also arrested in April 2012 for selling alcohol to a minor, police said.
The charges were in connection with an Underage Drinker Enforcement Detail completed in Riverhead and Southampton towns, police said.
ATTORNEY GENERAL COURTESY | Prabha Rani and federal agents in a screen grab from video supplied by the attorney general’s office last month.
One half of the Riverhead couple charged with orchestrating a scheme to steal more than $670,000 from a government food and nutrition program has been released from Suffolk County jail, according to the Suffolk County Sheriff’s office.
On Monday, Prabha Rani, 58, posted $250,000 cash bail, police said. Her husband, Ravinder Parkash, 59, remains in custody.
ATTORNEY GENERAL COURTESY | Ravinder Parkash, 59, remains in custody.
On June 27, the pair was arrested following a police raid of the Gulf gas station they own on East Main Street in Riverhead.
Mr. Parkash faces felony grand larceny and money laundering and is being held on $500,000 cash bail.
Ms. Rani was arrested on lesser theft charges.
The alleged plot involved illegally trading cash for hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, the attorney general said.
Almost two dozen other Suffolk County residents, including 17 from Riverhead Town, were also arrested as part of a 60-count grand jury indictment unsealed June 27 after an 18-month investigation, said state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Both are due back in state Supreme Court on Sept. 10.