Former owners of Buca Eatery and Grill charged with food stamps fraud

Between 2015 and 2016, investigators say the former owner of Buca Eatery and Grill in Oconomowoc used food stamps to buy supplies for his restaurant. 

Buca Eatery and Grill shut down in May of 2016 but investigators say before it closed, the owner, Albert Islami repeatedly used food stamps benefits that belonged to a man named Adam Kuehn.

Investigators say Kuehn was in on the scam, and they caught onto it when they noticed Kuehn often "depletes his entire $500 in benefits in a short period of time."

So, agents started looking at surveillance videos from stores where the purchases were made and found "on numerous occasions from 2015 to 2016, those transactions were not made by Adam Kuehn."

Instead, the man on the videos was identified as Albert Islami, who operated Buca Eatery and Grill at the time.

According to the complaint, "the groceries that were purchased were consistent with the menu listed online for Buca's."

Court records show the final fraudulent purchase was made on April 8th of 2016. 

Weeks later a fire closed Buca Eatery and Grill.

The complaint lists the restaurant as Islami's home address but when CBS 58 stopped by, the man who currently owns the building told us he bought it in November of 2016 and he knew nothing about the allegations against the former occupant. 

Islami and Kuehn are both charged with several felonies. Kuehn is already in prison on unrelated charges. Islami is due in court on May 15th.