Operation Cradle to Grift Fraud Arrests

That is why our announcement today of Operation Cradle to Grift

matters.

Last Thursday, the first 12 defendants charged in

Operation

Cradle to Grift were arrested on federal warrants issued by

the federal court here in San Diego.

All 12 defendants, six males and six females, are

charged with fraud offenses for allegedly defrauding federal and state

funds by running ghost daycares.

Accor-according to the allegations, these were made-up,

fake daycares that day after day,

month after month, year after year, billed the

taxpayer for allegedly taking care of children.

But there were no children. There were no

daycares. These daycares were fake, and the

taxpayers were paying for all of it,

thousands of dollars a month.

In total, these 12 ghost daycares billed the

taxpayer more than

$10 million, money that should have gone to

feeding, protecting, and supporting our children.

Let me give you just one example.

Mohammed Alawad is charged with wire fraud and money

laundering. Over several years, Alawad received

over $1.2 million for purportedly providing

daycare services. The charges allege that Alawad was

not, in fact, providing those services.

Agents compared surveillance video with Alawad's billing

records, and this is what they found.

Between March 21st and April 27th, Alawad

claimed that he took care of 11, 12, or 13 children

every single day of the week throughout that entire time period.

But in those 38 days, based on the allegations in the complaint,

surveillance video shows zero children, zero,

entering that facility over 22 days during that

time period. The most children ever seen entering was

six, and that was one day where six entered,

and no more than

three children were seen entering on any other day.

Further, based on the allegations, Alawad kept billing the

taxpayer for daycare provided in San Diego even when

he was outside the United States of America.

Records show that Alawad claimed to be providing daycare on approximately

120 days over five separate international

trips

when he was, in fact, outside the United States of America.

Alawad was arrested on Thursday, and he will be answering

these allegations in federal court.

Now, I want to emphasize one further fact from

these 12 cases.

Nine of these 12 defendants entered the United States

seeking certain immigration privileges and protections

dependent on the generosity of America.

The empathy of the American people allowed them to live

and succeed in the greatest country in the world.

But based on these allegations, they turned that empathy on its

head and began stealing from America.

To anyone operating a ghost daycare in San Diego or anywhere,

stop lying, stop deceiving, and start doing

honest work.

We are focused on stopping your schemes and putting you in

prison. If you lie about babysitting, we will

have to babysit you in prison.