Restaurateur pleads guilty to stalking estranged wife

A Hanover restaurateur pleaded guilty Wednesday to stalking his estranged wife. Khalil Ahmad, 51, admitted he solicited another individual to have his wife killed after he violated protective orders she obtained against him, according to a news release. Ahmad paid that individual to set up his wife and make it appear she was a terrorist so she would be arrested, the Justice Department said in the release. Ahmad admitted he paid the same individual to burn Allah Rakha, a Pakistani restaurant in Hanover he owned to collect insurance payments, according to the release. Ahmad faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for stalking and could be deported from the United States upon completion of his sentence. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for March 12. As a result of his guilty plea to the federal stalking charge, the Anne Arundel County, Howard County, and Prince George’s County state’s attorney’s offices have agreed to dismiss their pending cases against Ahmad. According to federal court documents, Ahmad conspired with another man to collect on a newly purchased insurance policy on the Hanover restaurant. Prosecutors wrote the new policy was worth $200,000 more than his previous one.