Crime & Safety
Fake Coupons Used to Purchase Baby Formula From Kroger Stores
The following information was supplied by White Lake Township police. Arrests and charges do not indicate convictions.
Two Pennsylvania residents were arrested Feb. 15 in White Lake after loss prevention officers and police noticed the couple using forged coupons for baby formula, the police report states.
According to the report, Mahmoud Raja, 56, and Anisora Chilom, 48, were arrested on retail fraud third degree charges. White Lake Police Chief Ed Harris said additional charges of uttering and publishing are expected.
Chilom and Raja were released from Oakland County Jail earlier this week after posting $5,000 cash bonds.
Find out what's happening in White Lake-Highlandfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Harris said Raja and Chilom were arrested at Kroger in White Lake. The report states that a loss prevention officer in Waterford noticed the pair loading a large amount of baby formula into a van full of baby formula cans at the Waterford Kroger. The officer decided to follow the couple and followed them to the Kroger in White Lake.
The officer followed the woman around the White Lake store and watched her load a cart with powdered baby formula and proceed to the check out.
Find out what's happening in White Lake-Highlandfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The report states that the woman paid for the cans with cash and used seven buy-one-get-one-free coupons. The cans are valued at $13 each. The officer called police and detained the woman, the report states, after he saw the coupons were forged coupons.
When police arrived, they arrested both the woman and the man who was walking by the JCPenney down the street.
The baby formula company confirmed the coupons used by the woman were not legitimate. During the investigation, the report states that the woman told police she and the man get paid $200 a week by their boss to buy the formula using the forged coupons.
Harris said the operation is a large scale operation, and that cases like this have been reported in several states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania - it's unclear what the formula is used for.
Harris said the van with the formula was confiscated, along with more than 800 cans of formula, a large sum of cash, a large stack of coupons and five GPS units.
The incident remains under investigation.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
