He opened a store to serve his community in the KC area. Now he’s been ripped off for $32K
Ever Hernandez was 23 years old last year when — motivated by obstacles faced by his mother, having fled domestic abuse to support five children on her own — he opened a Hispanic market, El Nopal 2, in Kansas City, Kansas.
It’s No. 2 because his mother had previously opened the first El Nopal Supermarket four miles east at 4347 Parallel Parkway. At his store — a 1,200-square foot storefront at 7837 Parallel Parkway — Hernandez sells fruits and vegetables, snacks, dry goods and, for a 1% fee, cashes checks for those who need it because, he said, “bills are bills. Bills don’t wait for your checks to get deposited into your account.”
“I wanted to give back the Hispanic community,” said Hernandez who, with his wife, Adelynn, is expecting their second daughter in April. “I knew the struggles my mom went through, not having many services.”
‘Crushing’
So much for good intentions.
On Saturday, Hernandez said, El Nopal 2 was ripped off for approximately $32,000 as the victim of a coordinated and sophisticated check-cashing scam that involved as many as 40 perpetrators. The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department on Tuesday confirmed responding that day to a felony theft complaint.
“This incident has been both financially and emotionally crushing, especially with my second child on the way,” Hernandez said.
Particularly confounding, Hernandez said, is that the checks all looked legitimate, appearing as paychecks cuts from a large local business. Security video from the store shows lines of men waiting to have their checks cashed.
“It seemed like they copied account numbers and routing numbers from a local business,” Hernandez said. “Our system checks for that information — if the routing numbers are valid. The checks were going through. We have thermal scanners. The paper they were using was legit.”
But it ended up that the checks, made out in amounts from between $750 to $850, were not.
“I ended up getting a gut feeling,” Hernandez said. “I ended up calling the business to verify that the checks were from them. They said, no, those were not authorized checks.”
He pressed an emergency button in the store, causing the men to flee. Police, he said, arrived within minutes.
Still trusting
Those who cashed the checks, he said, were brazen, having what he now assumes to be fake identification cards.
“The police seem to think that they copied their fake ID’s onto the checks,” Hernandez said. “They were aware that they weren’t gonna get caught, I’m assuming, because we have pictures of them. When we do check-cashing, we take a picture of their IDs, their faces, we scan the checks so we have all the information.
“They were not scared at all to show their faces to the cameras.”
As a result of the loss, Hernandez said, he will simply have to spend more time at work. The $32,000 came from their business savings account. He wanted other businesses to be aware of the scam.
Hernandez said the theft has not dampened his resolve to serve the community.
“I’m not going to judge people. I’m still going to give people the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “A lot of people gave me and my twin brother the benefit of the doubt, coming from nothing.”
After high school, he said, both he and his brother received academic and athletic scholarships to the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth.
“People trusted us,” Hernandez said. “I believe that we have to trust everyone. As bad as some people are, it doesn’t mean everyone’s bad. I’m going to continue to serve my customers the best I can. I’m going to treat people with respect. That’s the best thing I can say, to be honest.”
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 10:55 AM.
