Terrorism with your pancakes? FBI, DHS, Police Raid 7 IHOP Restaurants
Is there a terrorist investigation in the Heartland? There are conflicting
reports, but FBI, Homeland Security, ICE and IRS agents along with local
police raided seven IHOP restaurants, six in Ohio and one in Evansville,
Indiana. The warrants are sealed but boxes were seized and loaded into
U-Hauls.
By Ms. Smith on Tue, 09/20/11 - 3:00pm.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/78724 Well, well, well, there was some scattered excitement and murmurings of
possible terrorist investigations as the feds were busy raiding seven IHOP
restaurants across Ohio and Indiana on Tuesday morning. It took about an
hour and a half to arrive at the IHOP Evansville scene were the FBI was
working as the lead agency with assistance from Homeland Security's
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, IRS agents and local law
enforcement.
Even as Johnny-on-the-spot, there seemed to be a whole lot of nothing going
on from the outside looking in, watching a U-Haul van parked in the back of
the IHOP in Evansville, Indiana. Although I was ready for it, armed with the
ACLU photographers' rights, no one harassed me about taking photos.
Evansville employees sat behind the building and waited while the feds were
inside. Although no one wanted to comment, another IHOP employee and perhaps
manager kept barking, "Who are you talking to?" at the others who were using
their cell phones.
While most agents who descended on the scene were being tight-lipped about
executing a sealed search warrant and the raid, the FBI told 14 News that
the agents on scene in Evansville were from the Cleveland, Ohio branch, but
all the raided IHOPs are owned by "Tarek Elkafrawi, locally known as Terry
Elks." Elk owns seven IHOPs: one in Evansville, Indiana, two in Toledo,
Ohio, and the other four also in Ohio: one each in Holland, Lima, Perrysburg
and Findlay. Two of Elks' homes and two storage units were also raided,
according to WTOL. As many as 50 boxes filled with files were removed from
one IHOP in Toledo and "dozens" removed from another.
Although the investigation is closed, a "well-placed source in the Toledo
Police Department" told WTOL that the feds are investigating money
laundering, funding terrorist organizations and possible undocumented
workers. Conversely, Patrick Lenow, director of corporate communications for
DineEquity, parent company of IHOP and Applebee's told the Evansville
Courier & Press, "We have been told by authorities it does not involve
terrorism." Lenow added that DineEquity as well as IHOP franchise owner
Terry Elks were cooperating with all the raids.
The Toledo Blade in Ohio claimed the raids were "reportedly for suspected
terrorist activity." An update by the Toledo Blade included Toledo IHOP
assistant manager, Travis Noe, saying, "Agents with badges and guns arrived
shortly after 6 a.m. He said the agents told him to stay still and allow
them to search the place and gave no details on why they were searching the
restaurant. After taking out boxes, the agents left about 10:30 a.m." Yet
another IHOP employee said he when he arrived at work this morning, he was
immediately ordered "to put his hands up in the air."
FBI Special Agent Scott Wilson told the Courier & Press that he did not know
if anyone was detained from the seven IHOP restaurant raids on Tuesday
morning. Like the six IHOP locations in Ohio, federal agents loaded white
boxes allegedly filled with documents into a U-Haul trailer. At the time of
this report, although 10 boxes were taken in through the back door, seven
boxes were removed from the Evansville IHOP restaurant by gun-toting feds
like in the image below. The Courier & Press added that "one agent had what
appeared to be three or four computer hard drives in his hands."
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