GLENDALE — A Glendale convenience store owner filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday asking a court to force the IRS and Homeland Security Investigations to return property agents seized from his business in February 2025, ABC15 reported.
Mario Ayala’s store, Ayala’s Mini Market, also offers check cashing and money transfers. His attorneys at the Institute for Justice say it was one of 19 Phoenix-area money services businesses raided that month while Ayala was out of the country caring for his ailing father.
The search warrants listed one suspected offense, structuring, which means splitting large transactions to avoid federal reporting rules. Ayala’s lawyers say the government never presented evidence of structuring or any other crime, and Ayala has not been charged.
According to the suit, agents took hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and checks, computers, business records and five cellphones, and left an inventory that did not list how much cash was taken. The store was told the government would be in touch within 30 days. His lawyers say it never was.
Sources: ABC15, AZFamily. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Tony the Marine (talk) / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
