| Local IHOP owner indicted |
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| Written by PETER KUEBECK Sentinel Staff Writer | |
| Thursday, 24 May 2012 11:10 | |
The actions "resulted in losses of more than $3 million" for the restaurant chain, a Wednesday release from the U.S. Attorney's Office said. In the release, Stephen Dettelbach, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said "these defendants turned pancakes houses into crime dens. This indictment lays out a menu of crimes ranging from harboring undocumented workers to identity theft to money laundering to insurance fraud." Tarek "Terry Elk" Elkafrawi, Middleton Township, was among those indicted. He was the owner of seven IHOPs in Evansville, Ind., Holland, Toledo, Findlay, and Lima, and one in Perrysburg - located at 10151 Fremont Pike. That site was one of many raided in late September by federal agents. The case is reportedly the culmination of years of investigative work. A tip made to the Sentinel-Tribune Wednesday indicated that a number of federal agency vehicles were present that morning at Elkafrawi's residence in the 14700 block of Prairie Lake Drive in the Hull Prairie Meadows development, Middleton Township, just southwest of Levis Commons. The release indicated that Elkafrawi and others "used their control of the restaurants to execute various criminal activities to fraudulently manipulate sales figures, salaries, and payrolls to evade taxes, avoid paying royalties, and illegally divert money from the IHOP franchises to themselves." Elkafrawi reportedly hired 200 illegal immigrants for his restaurants, "most of whom used fraudulent or stolen identities while working." If the workers had no documentation, arrangements were made for false documents to be obtained for them. Elkafrawi also reportedly used schemes to avoid full payments to the Bureau of Worker's Compensation and underpaid the undocumented workers. These actions brought in $1.2 million in unreported income. Arson was also part of the scheme, as one of the IHOPs, located in Findlay, was burned in 2008, reportedly at the direction of Elkafrawi and another uncharged individual, to facilitate insurance fraud, generating another $1.3 million. Elkafrawi reportedly also bought real estate as a means of laundering the money, purchasing homes in Indiana and Toledo. Authorities are attempting to seize the home in Indiana "as well as more than $37,000 in currency, the seven IHOP franchises, a dozen bank accounts, and several vehicles," according to the indictment. Also listed as plaintiffs in the case are: Tarek Eid Omar, Autumn Lee Tangas, Kelly Elkafrawi, Jose Leon-Gonzales, Carlos Gamboa, Khaled Yousef, Jamil Mohammad Awwad, Ramiz Awwad, Khalil Aboudakka, Mahmoud Ali, Mohamed Hassan, Donna Harriott, Lucky Williams, Sara Rinebolt, Cesar Vaila, Mark Anthony Turner and Yoni Merida. |
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