Apartment manager in immigration case wasn't authorized to work in U.S.
Apartment Manager says he used false papers to get job
By Shawntaye Hopkins
shopkins@herald-leader.com

A man hired as a maintenance worker, then promoted to general manager by a landlord charged with harboring illegal immigrants, testified in federal court on Monday that he used his son's Social Security number to get the job.

Juan Apodaca, who speaks English and Spanish, testified that he used his son's Social Security number to get the maintenance job in 2000 because he was not authorized to work in the United States.

He was testifying in the trial of William Jerry Hadden, 69, charged with 24 counts of harboring illegal immigrants and 24 counts of encouraging illegal immigrants to remain in the country. Hadden and his son Jamey, who is in Vietnam, rented to 60 undocumented immigrants at Wood-ridge and Cross Keys apartments in Lexington.

Hadden is also charged with five counts of money laundering.

Apodaca, who was born in Mexico, came to the United States on a six-month visa that expired before the Haddens hired him. He obtained his green card in March 2008.

While handling tasks such as plumbing and painting, Apodaca sometimes translated for prospective tenants who could not complete on their own applications that were in English. Apodaca said Jerry Hadden and another office employee often asked for his help; Jamey Hadden spoke Spanish.

Apodaca became more involved in leasing apartments after Jamey Hadden left the country, and Apodaca was eventually promoted to general manager. He assisted in leasing apartments to tenants, many of whom did not have Social Security numbers, and he helped many of them set up utilities.

When Kentucky Utilities representatives refused to accept applications over the phone from people without Social Security numbers, Jerry Hadden called the company to ask about the policy. In one audio recording played in court, Hadden replied that some of the tenants might be illegal after a KU representative asked whether that was why they did not have Social Security numbers.

Hadden Associates, including Jerry Hadden and Apodaca, started setting up accounts in the company's name.

KU would allow people without Social Security numbers to set up accounts in person with a lease and proper identification. In one case, Apodaca testified, Apodaca printed a lease for a man's girlfriend so the girlfriend could set up a KU account.

Apodaca said he was not sure whether the woman lived at the residence, and he did not discuss this with Jerry Hadden. Many of the tenants used Mexican driver's licenses or voter-registration cards as proof of identification with apartment applications.

Apodaca testified that Jerry Hadden, who gave him an apartment and then helped him buy a house, was like a father to him. Apodaca's own parents are U.S. citizens, and they live and work on Hadden's property.

Asked by defense attorney Romona Little of Lexington about how he knew many of the tenants were illegal, Apodaca said he assumed they were illegal because they did not have Social Security numbers.

Defense attorney Tucker Richardson contends that Jerry Hadden did not harbor illegal immigrants. And, Richardson said, Jerry Hadden was never told he could not rent to illegal immigrants.

Apodaca said he went to Jerry Hadden after hearing about a Texas law prohibiting landlords from renting to illegal immigrants, and Hadden replied that he'd be broke if the law existed in Lexington.

Apodaca agreed when Little suggested that Jerry Hadden's reaction in that conversation meant he did not believe there was such a law in Lexington. And Apodaca said he believed Hadden would stop renting to illegal immigrants if he felt he was violating the law.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances E. Catrone-Malone contends Jerry Hadden knew he was renting to illegal immigrants and had started changing his business practices around 2000-2001 to accommodate a “marketing niche.â€