Dania Beach

Multi-Agency Operation Ongoing at Business in Dania Beach

Officials have not released information on which business in the building is being targeted but sources said it involves a wireless phone company

NBC Universal, Inc.

A multi-agency law enforcement operation was taking place at a business in Dania Beach Wednesday morning, a postal inspector confirmed to NBC 6.

The operation was taking place at a business in the Regions Bank building at 499 Sheridan Street in Dania Beach.

Officials have not released information on which business in the building is being targeted, but sources told NBC 6 the investigation involves a company called Q-Link Wireless and their work with the federal government to offer discount and pre-paid phones.

A call to a phone number associated with the company went unanswered.

Agents from the United States Postal Inspection Service along with agents from the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice, and the Broward Sheriff’s office are involved in the operation.

It is a sealed operation that has been under investigation for a couple of years, a postal inspector confirmed.

"This investigation has been ongoing for some time. This is a component of a larger investigation ultimately," the Postal Inspection Service's Ivan Ramirez said. "Unfortunately I am unable to share too much information about what is going on.”

No one has been arrested, but agents were seen removing evidence from the location.

Q-Link Wireless bills itself as one of the largest providers of discounted wireless service to low-income families, but a search of the Better Business Bureau doesn’t turn up happy customers. 

Of the 709 complaints submitted in the last three years, over half of them came in the last 12 months. 

The company is federally subsidized by the FCC and buys access to existing cell and internet networks and resells it.

“The beneficiaries of this will be the consumer. Our public, your viewers, everyone once they learn what the investigation entails, it’s a protection of consumers and clients," Ramirez said.

The company’s CEO, Issa Asad, was arrested in 2014 for killing a man with his car outside of the company's corporate office. 

According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, Asad and another man were arguing over money about landscaping at the property when Asad warned the man to move away from his car or he would run him over. 

Court records show he pleaded no contest to culpable negligence and served one year probation.

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