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Public records reveal that Lopez had bought the former KFC in April, paying some $390,000 in cash for the rundown restaurant.
“The vice squad had been watching Lopez since the Spring,” said Officer Duane Williams. “A tip alerted us to the cash purchase of the property, which obviously, was pretty suspicious. We had been waiting to arrest the suspect on related charges, but the traffic stop brought things to a head a little sooner than we expected.”
Soon after Lopez’s arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement obtained a search warrant and surrounded the building.
“It was really exciting,” remembered Williams. “We had over twenty officers suited up that day.”
Once inside, both local and federal authorities were shocked at what they found.
“This was no fried chicken joint any more,” said Williams. “This was the big time.”
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THE HOLE WAS JUST THE BEGINNING
The agents’ suspicions of organized, criminal activity were confirmed with the discovery of an eight-inch opening along a wall in the restaurant’s rear kitchen area.
“You could have easily missed it, if you didn’t know what you were looking for,” said Officer Williams. “The whole building was in disarray. There were lots of holes.”
Agents chipped away at it’s sides and, as the concrete gave way, the hole became larger and larger.
One person shimmied down into the space and turned on a flashlight, scanning the surroundings.
Hundreds of wooden two-by-four boards lined the walls…