Altimont Mark Wilks, of Hagerstown, admits that his “entrepreneurial spirit” got him involved in drug trafficking and crime in the first place.
In 2004, he was imprisoned for firearm and drug offenses: He served 14 years.
“While in prison, I took my time to re-educate myself, and to really just become a better person,” said Wilks. In 2018, he re-entered society, took a job delivering packages for Fed-Ex, borrowed start-up money from family, and a year later began Carmen’s Corner Store in Hagerstown. The store is named after his mother, a Jamaican immigrant. In 2022, he opened a second store in Frederick.
At both stores he applied to accept payments as a vendor through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP. Both times his application was denied — permanently. The USDA bans vendors with federal, state or local violations related to “alcohol, tobacco, firearms, controlled substances, or gaming licenses.”
On Tuesday, he filed suit in Baltimore against the United States Department of Agriculture, the department that oversees SNAP.
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
