Local Men Charged in Stolen Baby Formula Conspiracy

CINCINNATI – Three Butler County men have been arrested and charged in a conspiracy to ship stolen baby formula and other goods.

Khalil Yacub, 44 of Liberty Township, Ohio, Khalil Jaghama of West Chester, Ohio, and Jasser Saleh, 41 of Liberty Township, Ohio, were each arrested this morning.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Todd Wickerham, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division and Colerain Township Police Chief Mark C. Denney announced the charges.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Yacub’s family owns and operates the Pit Stop, a convenience store located on Galbraith Road in Colerain Township.

Employees of the Pit Stop, including Yacub, Jaghama and Saleh, would allegedly pay individuals (often drug addicts) to work as “boosters” to steal baby formula. The defendants would pay boosters with cash from the convenience store register for the stolen formula. For example, boosters might sell cans of stolen baby formula to the Pit Stop for $5 per can. On June 30, 2018, alone, one woman brought 40 cans of baby formula to the Pit Stop to be sold.

Before the defendants would purchase the stolen baby formula from boosters, they would often take a photo of the booster’s driver’s license or state ID in order to prevent the boosters from reporting co-conspirators to the police. Defendants also allegedly brandished a handgun and used a taser to intimidate and control buyers.

It is alleged that between 2017 and January 2019, the defendants stored and shipped hundreds of cans of baby formula for resale to other parts of the country.  The defendants used a storage facility to warehouse the stolen goods. A GPS monitor placed one an Enfamil can in the storage facility showed that the product was transported interstate to the West Coast.

The defendants are charged with conspiring to transport and transporting stolen goods. The transporting of stolen goods is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Conspiracy to commit the crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.  The defendants are also charged with unlawful possession of a means of identification, which carries a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI and Colerain Township Police Department and the assistance of Kroger, as well as Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy S. Mangan and Karl P. Kadon, who are prosecuting the case.

Criminal complaints merely contain allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

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