MUSKEGON, Mich. – A former Muskegon restaurant owner has pleaded guilty in federal court to Social Security fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says that Pablo Razo Fierro, 66, made the plea in court in Grand Rapids Monday. He faces up to five years in prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney, Fierro filed for Social Security benefits in 1996 and started receiving them claiming he had a back injury. As part of the application, he promised to notify the Social Security Administration if his health improved and he could return to work. In 2004, he opened “Pablo’s Tacos” in Muskegon and kept his employment secret from the SSA.
A 2008 media report on the success of “Pablo’s Tacos” led the SSA to investigate Fierro. Fierro disappeared in 2012, but he was arrested in Twin Lake in 2015. He admitted that he had fled to Mexico, but returned to the U.S. after family members mistakenly told him there were no pending arrest warrants on him.
