Thread: Chinese restaurant owners convicted, face deportation

http://www.record-eagle.com/2006/aug/24charlevoix.htm

08/24/2006
Chinese restaurant owners convicted, face deportation
By CRAIG McCOOL
Record-Eagle staff writer

CHARLEVOIX — The owners of a restaurant who were suspected of tax fraud and employing illegal immigrants have been convicted on felony charges and face deportation.

Yong Sheng Dong, 37, and his wife, Yu Zhen Chen, 34, were arraigned, convicted and sentenced in a single day this week before they were handed over to federal authorities.

"It is my understanding that they are both going to be deported, that they had lost all of their appeals," said Charlevoix Chief Assistant Prosecutor Shaynee Fanara. "They were not here legally to begin with."

The Charlevoix couple leave behind more than $100,000 in assets seized through civil forfeiture proceedings.

About $115,000 in cash and a vehicle that formerly belonged to the couple now are the property of Charlevoix County officials, Fanara said.

The money "will go to the law enforcement agencies that worked on investigating this case, and the prosecutor's office for the work we conducted," Fanara said. She did not know what's in store for the vehicle.

Both Dong and Chen, owners the China One restaurant on M-66, pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted racketeering, a five-year felony, and two counts of felony tax fraud, also a punishable by up to five years in prison.

Both were sentenced to 42 days in jail with credit for 42 days served.

The convictions "made it easier" for county officials to seize the assets, but was not the sole reason for the case, Fanara said.

"I thought it was important to have them held responsible for the crimes they commit here," she said. "If they were to ever make it back to the United States, whether it be legally or illegally, their criminal history should accurately reflect what they did."

A police probe this year into China One restaurants in four northern Michigan communities — Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Gaylord and Traverse City — resulted so far only in charges against Dong and Chen, though the investigation is ongoing, Fanara said.

From all four restaurants, court records show, investigators compared owners' bank records against recent tax information and found that deposits outpaced reported incomes.

Little or no employee withholding tax was paid, suggesting that some employees were being paid under the table, and reported cash sales were low.

The same thing is going on in all of these taqerias that have popped up all over the country - many serve as way stations for the immigration railraod and money transfer places to make sure the cash gets back to Mexico.
The first thing that comes to a town is a Mexican food place and the next thing you know your Walmart looks like a fiesta.

If the owners where from Mexico then they never would have messed with them.

NewMexican..I had to laugh at what you said. We have a few roads that are nothing but taqerias...for miles. I have no idea how they stay open because they just don't get the business.

They will not be deported because China refuses to take back their illegal immigrants.