TOLEDO, Ohio, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Federal agents searched six International House of Pancakes restaurants in Ohio and one in Indiana but wouldn't say what they found, The Toledo Blade reported.
The newspaper said agents from the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, along with local law enforcement officers, raided six restaurants Tuesday morning in the Toledo area and one in Evansville, Ind.
Scott Wilson, a spokesman at the FBI's Cleveland office, said agents searched the restaurants as well as two area homes and a locked storage facility but would not provide details about search warrants, which were sealed in court, the Blade reported.
No one was arrested or detained and no charges had been filed, the Blade said.
An assistant manager at an IHOP in Sylvania Township, Ohio, said agents arrived shortly after 6 a.m. and took boxes. Officers carried out at least a dozen boxes, some labeled "IHOP" in red marker, the Blade said.
The newspaper said public records and the local Better Business Bureau Web site indicate Tarek Elkafrawi, also known as Terry Elk, Kamil Madi and Maazen Kadir have ownership or management roles in the seven franchises. Elkafrawi of Middleton Township in Wood County is listed as president of all the IHOPs that were raided.
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said one of the homes where a search warrant was executed was Elkafrawi's residence in Middleton Township. Elkafrawi and his wife, Kelly Ann Elkafrawi, were not at home Tuesday and did not respond to a message, the newspaper said.
In a statement, IHOP said: "We are working to gather the facts and have been in touch with the federal authorities, although we have not been briefed on the matter. We are cooperating fully with the authorities as we seek to gain an understanding of this situation."
