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Waukegan Grocery Owners Admit Food Stamp Fraud

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The owners of a Waukegan grocery store have admitted to stealing nearly $850,000 from the federal food stamp program.

Next up, sentencing for Khaled Saleh and his wife, Fatima, who ran the Sunset Food Market, 1501 Sunset Ave.

Federal prosecutors are pushing for 2.5 years in prison.

On thousands of occasions, the couple illegally provided cash to customers who made fake purchases on their LINK food stamp cards.

The store owners typically split every dollar 50-50 with the customers — and kept the rest as profit, prosecutors said.

The pair ran the scheme between August 2009 and April 2011, prosecutors said.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Dave Marsett Reports

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