Monday, May 14, 2007
WARREN — A Poland man was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to pay $2,676 in restitution for food-stamp fraud and other charges involving the Hubbard Gas & Mini Mart, 175 Youngstown-Hubbard Road. Gurmit Kapoor, 50, of Brookside Place, received his sentence Monday by Judge Peter Kontos in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
He had pleaded guilty to illegal use of food stamps or benefits from the Women, Infants and Children program, one count of telecommunications fraud and one count of possessing criminal tools. Kapoor was manager of the store.
Hubbard police said the arrest followed a 14-month investigation involving their department, the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force and the Ohio Investigative Unit of the Ohio Department of Public Safety that began when officers suspected drug activity going on at the business. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped 15 other charges, including one count of aggravated drug trafficking.
Ken Bailey, an assistant county prosecutor, said Kapoor is not a U.S. citizen, so he could face deportation.