INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) _ The owner of two Independence businesses was sentenced for selling synthetic marijuana, also known as K2, and accepting food stamps as payment.
Haq Nawaz Choudhry, of Kansas City, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to three years and six months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $3,275 in restitution and forfeit $27,443 to the government.
Choudhry owned the Short Stop convenience store and Kerns Liquor in Independence. Officers who searched the businesses in 2013 found K2 and drug paraphernalia. He pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy charges.
Prosecutors said Choudry used EBT cards, also known as food stamps, to record the purchase of K2 as food transactions.
His son, Haris Nawaz, was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2016 in the same scheme. His case is pending.
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