A neon sign in the window of 7-Van Drugs reads "Food Stamps," but the contradictory truth is posted inside on a handwritten sign taped to a thick pane of bulletproof plastic.

7-Van Drugs sits at the intersection of Seven Mile Road and Van Dyke in northern Detroit, where it has "serv[ed] the community since 1948 at the same corner."! Inside 7-Van is an array of staple foods and basic household cleaning items, and there is a small pharmacy in the back. Customers must use a turnstile to pass their purchases through the bulletproof plastic to the cashier. There are no open windows, which could afford a clean shot. There is, however, a small slot to pass money back and forth, and above it is taped a pink piece of paper that says in black magic marker "We don't accept food stamps."

The store was still part of the food stamp program when an undercover officer from the Michigan State Police walked in on December 12, 1994.2 The officer was there to ensure that 7-Van was not illegally trafficking in food stamps. He walked up to two cash registers offering to sell food stamps for cash. Neither cashier took the bait. The officer then left the store but was followed into the parking lot by Saimir Jamel, a seventeen-year-old clerk who is the nephew of the store's co-owners. Jamel, whose duties were limited to sweeping the floor and parking lot and stocking the shelves, offered to buy the food stamps for cash. He bought $270 in food stamps with $150 of his own money and gave the officer his pager number. He went on to make two more illegal food stamp purchases in January 1995, using his own money in both cases. After the third, the police arrested him in the parking lot outside of 7Van.

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