Owner Admits Food Stamp Fraud

The owner of a Marietta pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud in federal court Tuesday in Atlanta.

Shamsha Mirza Vasaya, 30, of Marietta admitted that she allowed customers at the store at 811 S. Marietta Pkwy. to use food stamps to buy ineligible products, such as beer, cigarettes and gasoline, and to cash in the benefits for 50 cents on the dollar.

“Food stamps are intended to provide assistance to our fellow citizens most in need,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said. “This defendant took a program intended to provide a helping hand and turned it into an ATM. Now she is headed to prison.”

Federal agents , across South Marietta Parkway from the Cobb Community Transit depot, in late July to seize records related to the food stamp case.

also cited the Chevron store during a compliance check in January.

The food stamp investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General found that Vasaya carried out the food stamp fraud from June 2009 until the July raid and made a profit of $557,421.32, according to information presented in U.S. District Court.

After her guilty plea, Vasaya will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones on Jan. 24. She faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.