Independence merchant guilty of swapping food stamps for synthetic marijuana

The owner of two Independence businesses pleaded guilty Tuesday to selling synthetic marijuana and food stamp fraud.

Haq Nawaz Choudhry pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Kansas City to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and controlled substance analogue and to participating in a money-laundering conspiracy.

Choudhry, 53, is the president of H Habib Enterprises, Inc., which owned the Short Stop convenience store and Kerns Liquor, located next door to each other at 9013 E. U.S. 40 in Independence.

His son, Haris Nawaz, 25, also was charged. His case is pending.

They were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2016 on charges of selling K2 and accepting food stamps as payment for the drugs.

A sentencing date for Choudhry has not been set.

This story was originally published February 6, 2018 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Independence merchant guilty of swapping food stamps for synthetic marijuana."