Market owner accused of trading cash for SNAP benefits

TAYLORSVILLE — The co-owner of a Taylorsville market is accused of essentially trading cash for food stamps.

Besmullah Yaqoobi, 45, of Salt Lake City, was charged Monday in 3rd District Court with public assistance fraud by a provider, a second-degree felony. Yagoobi and his partner were charged with a similar crime in 2025, but that case was laster dismissed in lieu of pending charges from the Utah Attorney General's Office which were filed this week, according to court documents.

Yaqoobi was co-owner of the Sahara Halal Market near 4100 South Redwood Road, which has since been closed, according to charging documents.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture began a joint investigation with the Taylorsville Police Department into the Sahara Market in 2023. Between January 2024 and April 2024, surveillance was conducted on the Sahara Market," according to charging documents.

While keeping surveillance on the store, investigators watched between 15 to 20 people enter the market, make "large…transactions" totaling more than $5,400 using their Electronic Benefits Transfer card, "and subsequently exited the market shortly after with little to no items," the charges state. EBT, which is short for electronic benefits transfer, is used like a debit card and is designed to replace the old paper food stamps system.

In July 2024, investigators had an informant make two EBT purchases at the market.

"The (informant) asked (Yaqoobi) if he could get $100 cash back if he used an EBT card. Defendant stated that he did not have cash but offered a personal check prefilled for varying amounts from $315 to $500. (Yaqoobi) filled out a check payable to the (the informant) for $315, and processed two EBT transactions, one for $359 and another for $15, in which the (informant) did not purchase nor receive any of the items from the transaction," the charges state.

In August, Yaqoobi again provided an informant with a check for $250 and rung up several items totaling a little over $287 but the informant did not walk out with any of the items allegedly purchased, the charges state.

Prosecutors note in their charges that Yaqoobi signed "a U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutritional Services contract on behalf of the Sahara Market. The ... contract specifically stated that it was prohibited to trade cash in exchange for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and doing so would be a violation of SNAP regulations."

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