3 in IHOP illegal hiring scheme given probation

9/3/2014
BLADE STAFF

Three former International House of Pancakes employees charged in a scheme involving illegal hiring practices and other crimes were sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge David Katz.

Carlos Gamboa, 51, of Toledo, who pleaded guilty last year to alien harboring and identity theft, was placed on probation for four years.

Jamil Mohammed Awwad, 39, of Ypsilanti, Mich., was placed on probation for two years with the first eight months on location monitoring. He pleaded guilty last year to alien harboring, aggravated identity theft, identity theft, false statements, and health care fraud.

Mark Anthony Turner, 49, of Toledo, who pleaded guilty last year to identity theft and false statements, was placed on probation for a year.

Gamboa, Awwad, and Turner worked for local IHOP franchisee Tarek Elkafrawi, who pleaded guilty July 3 to 53 counts relating to the scheme to defraud IHOP’s corporate owner, the government, an insurance company, and others of more than $4.5 million between December, 2003, and 2012. He is to be sentenced Oct. 16.