Archives of Employer Sanctions 2008

June 2012

• December 2008 — David E. Wortman, the owner of Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler Systems in Grand Island, Nebraska was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison. He had pled guilty in October to harboring illegal workers for commercial advantage. He admitted hiring at least 26 undocumented workers and paying their wages in cash. (The Grand Island Independent, December 10, 2008)
• November 2008 — Jimmy Moore, 47, the former vice president of Mack Associates, a firm that owns 11 McDonald’s restaurants in and around Reno, was sentenced to three years of probation and 40 hours of community service after he pled guilty to one felony count of inducing an illegal immigrant to remain in the United States. The company’s director of operations, Joe Gillespie, was similarly sentenced to three years of probation. Two other employees were earlier convicted and sentenced to community service and to pay fines of $1,000. Mack Associates was fined $1 million and was placed on probation for one year. In September 2007, 58 illegal immigrants working at the sites were arrested. (The Reno Gazette Journal, November 20, 2008)
• November 2008 — Alejandro ‘Alex’ Urrutia-Garcia, the human resources director for Universal Industrial Sales in Utah, has been sentenced to three years probation for hiring illegal immigrants. His sentence was part of a plea bargain in which he agreed to cooperate with the investigation of his employer, who he said required him to hire the illegal workers to keep his job. A raid of the company found 57 illegal alien workers in February. (The Deseret Morning News, November 14, 2008)
• October 2008 — Sholom Rubashkin, former chief executive of the Iowa kosher meatpacking company Agriprocessors, and son of its founder, was charged with intentionally helping illegal workers obtain false documentation (Washington Post, October 31, 2008). He was convicted in 2009 on financial fraud charges and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Another plant official, Hosam Amara, fled to Israel, but returned and pled guilty in 2013. He admitted that he conspired for at least five years before the raid to harbor immigrants “knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact” they had come to the U.S. illegally. He also admitted to conspiring to encouraging and inducing them to stay in the U.S. (Washington Post, August 29, 2013). Earlier, Laura Althouse, a plant manager pled guilty to helping illegal immigrant workers obtain false resident visa numbers so they could be hired at the plant. She faces a maximum sentence of 12 years and fines of up to $500,000. Brent Beebe, a senior plant manager, pled guilty to document-fraud conspiracy and was sentenced in May 2010 to 10 months in prison. He has remained beef operations manager for Agri Star, the new operator of the meatpacking plant. A plant human resources manager, Karina Freund, faces similar charges. (New York Times, October 30, 2008). Althouse pled guilty to “conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens and aggravated identity theft.” Freund pled guilty to “aiding and abetting a pattern or practice of hiring undocumented aliens.” She faces a possible maximum sentence of six months in prison or a term of probation of not more than five years. She also faces a fine of up to $3,000 for each undocumented worker involved in the offense. (The Iowa Independent, December 10, 2008). Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza was sentenced to three years in federal prison and will serve two years of supervised release after prison after pleading guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to hire illegal immigrants and one count of aiding and abetting the hiring of illegal immigrants. Elizabeth Billmeyer, the plant’s former human resources manager, was sentenced in January, 2010 to one year and one day in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Former human resources clerk Penny Ann Hanson also pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement on an immigration form and one count of conspiracy. She faces received a sentence of two years probation. (AP, March 19, 2009, Des Moines Register, Jan. 12, 2010)
• October 2008 — Two managers at a New Bedford Mass. leather-goods factory raided in 2007 pled guilty to employing illegal aliens. Dilia Costa and Gloria Melo, managers at Michael Bianco Inc. under a plea agreement would serve two years probation including six months of home confinement. Melo who pled guilty to knowingly allowing illegal aliens to work at the factory would also pay a $500 fine. Costa pled guilty to harboring illegal aliens. (AP, October 25, 2008). Francesco Insolia the factory owner was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $30,000. (Providence Journal, January 28, 2009). 
• October 2008 — Lenny Dartez, the owner of Winston Service Contractors, who pled guilty to harboring illegal aliens in July, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, probation for five years and a fine of $12,000. He had been employing illegal aliens from Trinidad in Lafayette, Louisiana. 
• October 2008 — Republic Services Inc., a national waste disposal company has agreed to pay a $1 million penalty to the federal government pursuant to an agreement that acknowledges criminal wrongdoing at its subsidiary in Houston. The subsidiary, Republic Waste Services of Texas, was found to be employing illegal alien workers. The parent company, Republic Services, as part of the government agreement, will assist in the government’s investigation of two former managers at the Houston facility who are suspected of knowingly hiring the illegal alien workers. (The Houston Chronicle, October 2, 2008). 
• September 2008 — Juan Solano, an owner of the El Pollo Rico restaurant in Kensington, Maryland was sentenced to 15 months in prison and forfeiture of $7.2 million for employing and housing illegal aliens from 1999 to 2007 as well as for money laundering. His sister, Consuelo Solano, was sentenced to two months imprisonment and eight months home detention. (AP, September 29 20, 2008). 
• September 2008 — Lawrence Shipley III, the president of Shipley Do-Nut, a company in Dallas, pled guilty to conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and faces a maximum fine of $500,000 and up to five years probation. Jimmy Rivera, a former warehouse manager; Julian Garcia, the current warehouse manager; and Christopher Halsey, the current warehouse supervisor pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of hiring or continuing to hire illegal aliens. All three men have been convicted and sentenced to six months probation. Halsey, Rivera and Garcia were fined $1,000, $1,500 and $2,000, respectively. The firm agreed to a forfeiture of $1.3 million. (AP, September 5, 2008) 
• August 2008 — An ICE-led immigration sweep of the Howard Industries plant in Laurel, Miss. in August 2008 resulted in the roundup of more than 590 suspected illegal workers. In May, 2009, Jose Humberto Gonzalez, the company’s personnel director was arrested and charged with 25 counts of conspiracy and employee verification fraud. In December, 2009 Gonzalez pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and in March 2011 was sentenced to 6 moths of house arrest. In February, 2011, the company pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and accepted to pay a penalty of $1.5 million. (Hattiesburg American, August 23, 2009, Associated Press, February 24, 2011, Fox News Latino, March 3, 2011)
• August 2008 — Juan Carlos Guerrero-Espinoza, a former supervisor at Agriprocessors’ kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, was convicted of conspiring to hire illegal aliens and aiding and abetting the hiring of illegal aliens. Guerrero-Espinoza told employees at the plant that he knew they were unauthorized to work in the United States. However, he told them their employment would be terminated, but they would be hired back. He faces a maximum of ten years in prison. (ICE, August 20, 2008). 
• August 2008 — Dionel Barrios-Fraire, a Mexican illegal alien, and his wife, Ann Elda Barrios, pled guilty to hiring and harboring illegal aliens in Springfield, Missouri. They employed illegal aliens to work on roofing jobs for their company, Taylor Made Roofing. Barrios-Fraire and Barrios each could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. (ICE, August 07, 2008) 
• July 2008 — Jean Robinson, chief financial officer of Spectrum Interiors, was convicted of harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain in Covington Kentucky. She admitted to knowingly conspiring to use labor contracts to provide illegal aliens to perform drywall and exterior applications. She was sentenced to three years probation, six months of home detention, and one hundred hours of community service. (ICE, July 30, 2008) 
• July 2008 — Tony Evans, the president of a Kansas City roofing company pled guilty to conspiring to hire illegal immigrants to work as roofers in the area. He and Luis Hernandez-Bautista, a do-defendant face up to 20 years in federal prison and fines of up to $500,000. (The Kansas City Star, July 29, 2008) 
• July 2008 — Ted Evans, president of Mid Continent Specialist, pled guilty to conspiring to hire illegal aliens in Kansas City, Missouri. Evans admitted that he participated in two separate conspiracies to encourage illegal aliens to reside in the United States for the purpose of private financial gain and commercial advantage. Evans faces a sentence of up to twenty years without parole and a fine up to 500,000 dollars. (ICE, July 29, 2008) 
• July 2008 — Ruben Tinoco-Tinoco, owner of Taurus Painting, Inc., pled guilty to harboring illegal immigrants in Jacksonville, Florida. ICE arrested thirty four illegal immigrants, and twenty nine of those aliens admitted to working for Tinoco-Tinoco. He faces a sentence of ten years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Under the terms of a plea agreement, he has also agreed to pay $50,000 and surrender two houses in forfeiture. (ICE, July 29, 2008)
• July 2008 — Francisco C. Solano, co-owner of El Pollo Rico Restaurant, pled guilty today to conspiracy to harbor aliens, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and structuring bank transactions to evade reporting requirements in Greenbelt, Maryland. Solano concealed illegal aliens in residences and businesses he owned, and he paid them in cash. As a part of the plea, he agrees to forfeit 7.2 million dollars in cash, properties, vehicles, and other assets. He faces a maximum of twenty years in prison for money laundering, ten years in prison for harboring conspiracy, and five years in prison for structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements. (ICE, July 24, 2008) 
• July 2008 — Lenny J. Dartez, the owner of Winston Service Contractors in Baton Rouge LA pled guilty to harboring aliens and faces a sentence of up to five years in jail and a possible maximum $250,000 fine in addition to a civil penalty of $45,000. His office manager, Kenneth J. Morrison, also pled guilty for having knowledge of a federal felony and failing to notify law enforcement of the crime and for signing the illegal alien’s paychecks. He faces a sentence of up to three years and also a possible maximum fine of $250,000. (The Advocate, July 16, 2008) 
• June 2008 — Nicholas Sama and Timothy Gibson, managers for Car Care, pled guilty to conspiring to defraud the government, harboring illegal aliens, and committing identity theft in Horsham, Pennsylvania. They could be sentenced to five years in prison and 25,000 fine, and three years of supervised relief. Car Care pled guilty to the charge and was ordered to pay $100,000 and to forfeit $500,000 to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Courier Post, June 29, 2008)
• June 2008 — Carol Hill, human resources manager at Sun Dry Wall & Stucco Inc, pled guilty to federal charges of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens for profit in Sierra Vista, Arizona. She admitted in her plea that she removed fifty-eight federal right to work forms she did not want federal agents to inspect. She faces up to fifteen months in prison and a fine according to her plea agreement. (The Associated Press, June 27, 2008) 
• June 2008 — Hao Zhu and his wife Ping Cheng, pled guilty to evading taxes and unlawfully employing aliens in connection with their employment of illegal aliens at two restaurants in Ocean City, Maryland. Zhu & Partners, LLC plead guilty to alien harboring and inducing aliens to reside in the United States. Zhu & Partners, LLC faces a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss caused by its conduct, together with costs of prosecution. Zhu faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for employment tax evasion and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss caused by his conduct, together with costs of prosecution. Cheng faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison for unlawful employment of illegal aliens and a fine of $3,000 for each unauthorized alien with respect to whom such a violation occurs. (DHS/ICE Press Release, June 03, 2008) 
• April 2008 — Co-owners of the Jalapeno Loco Mexican Restaurant in Mentor, NY, Alvaro Soto and Augustin Quinones Torres, were charged with Harboring illegal aliens. Soto pled guilty to failing to report a felony and was sentenced to probation, and Quinones’ attorney says he expects the same for the latter. Another owner, Jorge Delarco, is charged with conspiracy to employ illegal aliens. The action was part of raids at seven Mexican restaurants in four states that resulted in the arrest of 56 people. (The Plain Dealer, April 16, 2008 and March 8, 2010)
• April 2008 — Felisberto J. Magalhaes, president of CMC Concrete Construction, pled guilty to hiring illegal immigrants in Alexandria, Virginia. The judge sentenced him to one year of probation and ordered him to forfeit 122,000 dollars, which were traceable to the offense. (The Washington Post, April 23, 2008) 
• April 2008 — Daniel Tacuri, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, pled guilty to harboring and employing illegal immigrants in Milford, Massachusetts. Tacuri faces up to ten years in prison and 250, 000 in fines for each of the twenty counts of harboring illegal immigrants. (The Boston Globe, April 11, 2008) 
• March 2008 — Three Florida residents were sentenced to between 10 and two years in federal prison for their roles in defrauding the United States and harboring illegal aliens. The three, who operated RCI, a nationwide janitorial service that was staffed almost exclusively with illegal aliens, earlier had pled guilty. Two RCI employees previously were also convicted of harboring illegal aliens. “For too long, unscrupulous employers like those who owned and operated RCI have been able to undercut their competition by building their workforce with illegal labor,” said ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers. (ICE website, March 04, 2008)
• January 2008 — Xian Xi Ye, former owner of a Buffet City restaurant in Springfield, Illinois, was convicted of housing and employing more than two dozen undocumented workers. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. (Northwest Herald, January 29, 2008) 
• January 2008 — Dora Ruiz, former employee of George’s Processing, was convicted of recruiting and harboring illegal immigrants on January 15th in Joplin, Missouri. She could be sentenced up to ten years in prison for the convictions. (Joplin Globe, January 16th, 2008) 
• January 2008 — Michael Morgan and Robert Lanahan, former owners of Jones Industrial Work of Baltimore, pleaded guilty to conspiring to hiring illegal aliens in December. As part of the plea, they forfeited interest in the company. They could be sentenced up to ten years in prison. (Baltimore Sun, Janaury 08, 2008)