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Former Portland Halal Grocery Clerk Arrested On Bail Violation Charge

Federal authorities Wednesday arrested a former Portland Halal grocery clerk, facing trial in a federal welfare fraud case, for violating his bail conditions.

Abdulkareem Daham was arrested after allegedly violating conditions that barred him from using marijuana, court documents show. Daham was originally arrested in May for his alleged role in a wide-ranging, multi-million dollar effort to defraud the government of various welfare benefits.

His older brother, Ali Ratib Daham, pleaded guilty last month to three charges including fraud, money laundering and theft of funds. And the older brother agreed to pay more than $1.5 million dollars in restitution. Sentencing is not yet completed in that case.

The younger brother, Abdulkareem, faces only one count of fraud involving the federal Women and Infant Children's program. That trial is scheduled to start early next month.

 

A Columbia University graduate, Fred began his journalism career as a print reporter in Vermont, then came to Maine Public in 2001 as its political reporter, as well as serving as a host for a variety of Maine Public Radio and Maine Public Television programs. Fred later went on to become news director for New England Public Radio in Western Massachusetts and worked as a freelancer for National Public Radio and a number of regional public radio stations, including WBUR in Boston and NHPR in New Hampshire.