A man who owns the Mercado La Estrella in Elgin and a woman who works at an undisclosed Elgin convenience store were among nine people indicted on federal charges of scheming to defraud a low-income food program for women and children.
A 16-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago alleges three store owners, including La Estrella owner Ehab Khraiwish, 27, of Tinley Park, and six store employees allowed customers to fraudulently redeem checks issued by the federally-funded Women, Infants and Children program.
Known as WIC, the program is designed to provide nutritious food to moderate- and low-income infants, children up to five years of age, and pregnant, breastfeeding and post-partum women.
However, the defendants were allegedly allowing customers to “provide their WIC checks as payment for ineligible items at the stores, often at inflated prices,” a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago said.
Most of the stores involved are believed to have redeemed millions of dollars in WIC checks between 2010 and 2019, the release said.
The indicted owners’ stores are located in Chicago, Melrose Park and Elgin.
The indicted employees worked at stores in Melrose Park, Addison, Mount Prospect and Elgin, the latter of which employed Marisol Zavala, 29, of McHenry.