A Mercer County couple was arrested in Alliance on Wednesday evening for their alleged involvement in a scam involving illegally-obtained protein shakes.

According to a post on the Alliance Police Department's Facebook page, 27-year-old Soud Kanan and 25-year-old Asmaa Kanan (pictured above) both from Sharon were arrested at a Marc's store in Alliance.

Police say both Soud and Asmaa were under investigation for a coupon scam in which they allegedly fraudulently stole $1,600 worth of Ensure protein shakes from Meijer and Marc's on June 11.

According to the police report, the two went into Meijer in Alliance on June 11 and loaded two shopping carts with 84 packs of Ensure valued at just over $700.

The two then proceeded to the self-checkout where police say they scanned 20 of those packs across five different transactions and used fraudulent coupons on them. The remaining 64 packs weren't scanned at all.

According to the report, the coupons were fraudulent due to how they were obtained. The coupons' polices say they are voided once altered, reproduced, copied, sold or transferred.

On Wednesday, June 19, police say the two were back in Alliance, this time at a Marc's store where they got their hands on 80 more packs of Ensure, along with gum and candy.

Police say the two used 190 fraudulent coupons at the checkout and only paid $43.94 for nearly $900 worth of merchandise.

Officers were able to confront the couple when they were walking out of the store and place them under arrest. 

Police found hundreds more packs of Ensure in the back of the couple's truck. These drinks were believed to have been stolen from Marc's stores in Salem and Boardman.

Police say the couple had stolen $1,596.09 worth of merchandise in total. Police tell 21 News they do not know why the couple had so many of these drinks, but say some were packaged as if they were going to be shipped. Both have ties to the Middle East. 

Police say they are looking into if the couple could have intended on reselling them.

The couple was charged with Engaging in a Continuous Course of Conduct to Commit Theft by Deception. Both are set to be arraigned in the Alliance Municipal Court on Friday at 1 p.m. They were bonded out of jail Thursday morning.

Police believe they also carried out the scam at other stores in Boardman, Salem, North Jackson Township and Cleveland. Additional charges may be filed.