Thread: NY:Sham Queens training school threatened security

Sham Queens training school threatened security
BY JOSEPH MALLIA

joseph.mallia@newsday.com

2:43 PM EDT, August 1, 2007

The Jackson Heights training school was supposed to teach students to safely remove asbestos. Instead it was a sham, prosecutors said.

Instructors gave students the correct answers during tests, and encouraged students -- most of whom were undocumented immigrants -- to use false Social Security numbers in state licensing examinations, authorities said.

The result was hundreds of licensees poorly trained to remove the hazardous material, and many of them went to work on security-sensitive local government projects, prosecutors said.

More than 80 percent of the Queens school's students used false identification to get certificates, then went to work at Port Authority projects, which "undermined the efforts of homeland security and gave individuals access to the City's bridges, tunnels and airports," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.

The owners of Senagryph Training Facilities, Inc., on 72nd Street in Jackson Heights, were arraigned Tuesday night in Queens Criminal Court, authorities said. The two owners, Juan Herrera, 61, and Julia Herrera, 49, both of Clifton, N.J., were charged with falsifying business records and filing fraudulent documents.

Queens Criminal Court Judge Alex Zigman ordered them to return to court Sept. 25, releasing them on their own recognizance.

The Herreras themselves, along with their instructors, encouraged students to use false Social Security numbers when applying for licenses, prosecutors said.

The training poorly prepared its students for an exacting job. "Asbestos is an extremely hazardous material and can be dangerous if mishandled," Brown said.

Investigators sent undercover detectives to Senagryph in October 2005 to take an asbestos training course. There each was handed an application by an instructor who, believing him to be in the country illegally, advised writing made-up Social Security numbers on school applications, prosecutors said.

The instructor said they could use someone else's number or buy one on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, an area which is considered to be the black-market epicenter for fraudulent government identity documents on the East Coast, prosecutors said.

Then, during a licensing test, the instructor asked if any of the students needed help, and gave the undercover detectives the answers to 10 or 15 questions, prosecutors said.

Another undercover agent went to Senagryph in September 2006, to take the asbestos training course and was handed an application by Juan Herrera to fill out -- and he advised the students that if anyone did not have a Social Security number to make one up, prosecutors said.

And when the agent passed the exam, Juan Herrera told him that his false Social Security number had been used by a prior Senagryph student, so Herrera used white-out to alter the numbers.


http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-asbe0 ... -headlines

I have never seen so many dishonest people in my lifetime! I know there are honest latinos (LEGAL IMMIGRANTS), but I'm beginning to believe the overall percentage is mighty small.

Seems it's a "normal" way of life for them considering where they came from. Why be honest when dis-honesty has such better rewards?


What concerns me is paying people who were supposidly "trained" to do something and it's all a sham. I don't like being forced to not ever being able to trust people.

I am suprised they haven't complained or sued saying our SS# is unconstitutional and against their civil rights

Queens Criminal Court Judge Alex Zigman ordered them to return to court Sept. 25, releasing them on their own recognizance.

This is unreal! How could he release these criminals on their own recognizances? Is this country becoming completely void of law and order? Judge Zigman, no doubt, is another one of those liberal judges that is determined to drive this country into complete chaos and lawlessness!

Another undercover agent went to Senagryph in September 2006, to take the asbestos training course and was handed an application by Juan Herrera to fill out -- and he advised the students that if anyone did not have a Social Security number to make one up, prosecutors said.

And when the agent passed the exam, Juan Herrera told him that his false Social Security number had been used by a prior Senagryph student, so Herrera used white-out to alter the numbers.

If federal law enforcement officials knew of this since before Sept. 2006, why are they just now arresting these folks?