Federal agents raided more than a dozen foreign-owned takeout chicken restaurants in Baltimore yesterday, seizing computers and business records that officials said could document widespread tax evasion and immigration violations.
Authorities executed the search warrants as part of a yearlong probe of possible criminal activity connected with New York Fried Chicken, a loose-knit restaurant chain operated in the region primarily by Afghan natives.
In court records, investigators with the Internal Revenue Service alleged that the restaurant operators avoided reporting wages or paying other taxes for years by hiring illegal aliens and conducting the bulk of their business in cash transactions.
Agents served search warrants at 13 chicken outlets - known alternately as New York Fried Chicken and Kennedy Fried Chicken - and 10 residences connected with the businesses. Court records show that about 15 people employed by the restaurants have been identified as illegal immigrants and slated for deportation in the past year, but it was unclear whether there were any additional arrests yesterday.
Some of the earlier arrests came to light in September, when Baltimore police were serving an unrelated warrant at a sparsely furnished apartment on Labyrinth Road in Northwest Baltimore. There they found seven young Middle Eastern men - all workers at a New York Fried Chicken outlet on Park Heights Avenue - and discovered other details that initially raised concerns about a possible terrorism connection.
The men were jailed and denied bail while FBI agents investigated. But after more than two months, the potential terrorism probe appeared to have largely fizzled. Records and interviews showed the men to be what they claimed: immigrants working at the chicken restaurants to earn enough money to survive and help their families living overseas.
According to court records, the broader tax evasion investigation dates to January and began in part after calls to authorities from concerned citizens.
In one instance, the owner of a New York Fried Chicken outlet in the 1200 block of E. North Ave. told authorities in an interview this year that he could not explain why bank records showed deposits of more than $61,000 in 2001. Meanwhile, he reported $12,000 in income for the year, the court records said.
Informants told law enforcement that other restaurant owners met in recent months to discuss ways to avoid implication in the federal investigation. They allegedly instructed employees to tell investigators that they earned about $250 a week, instead of the $400 to $450 they took home.