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AZ - Business owner charged with ID theft
Posted on Friday, July 10 @ 01:29:36 EDT
Topic: State Laws Immigration illegal legal
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 PHOENIX - A Brazilian man who owns a granite countertop business has become the first business owner in Arizona to be criminally charged in an investigation of suspected employer sanctions violations.
Raphael Libardi, 48, was indicted Tuesday on charges of identity theft, fraudulent schemes and forgery for allegedly using an elderly man's Social Security number to set up his business and buy a house and two vehicles.
Subjects = Illegal Immigration, Arizona employer sanctions violations, Raphael Libardi, identity theft, forgery, Aracruz International Granite
July 8, 2009
Associated Press
KTAR.com
Bonneville International
No civil case has been brought against the business owned by Libardi - or any other business in Arizona - under the state's 18-month-old civil law prohibiting businesses from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Still, authorities say they were investigating Libardi's business for possible employer sanction violations.
``We are making steady progress, and we are moving up the corporate ladder,'' said Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, whose office is prosecuting Libardi.
Maricopa County sheriff's deputies raided Libardi's business, Aracruz International Granite, and his home in suburban Anthem last week. Authorities said some of the 15 to 20 people who work at the business were in the country illegally.
Prosecutors said Libardi, who is being held in jail without bond, started using an elderly man's Social Security number in 2002.
Libardi's attorney, Robert Bruce Stirling II, declined to comment Wednesday.
The employer sanctions law, intended to lessen the economic incentive for immigrants to sneak into the country, has prompted or contributed to an unknown number of illegal immigrants leaving Arizona for their home countries or other American states.
The biggest difficulty cited in bringing civil employer sanctions cases is the requirement that prosecutors prove that a business knew it had hired an illegal immigrant.
``You would have to show that the person who had operational control over the corporation knew that they were illegal immigrants when they were hired,'' Thomas said.
Even though no civil cases have been brought to court, numerous rank-and-file employees and a few supervisors of other businesses have been charged criminally with identity theft for using forged documents or stolen identities to get jobs.
Thomas said authorities in Maricopa County were investigating 20 other businesses for possible employer sanctions violations.
A business found to have violated the civil law could face the suspension or revocation of their licenses to operate in the state.
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