Last Updated: 12:38 pm | Friday, November 30, 2007
Contractor admits illegal labor
Wolnitzek will forfeit $2M in plea
BY JIM HANNAH | JHANNAH@NKY.COM
Fort Wright Councilman Jeff Wolnitzek has pleaded guilty to using illegal immigrant labor at his Crescent Springs-based construction company.

He will forfeit $2 million earned from employing illegal immigrants, according to a statement released by Wolnitzek's company, Spectrum Interiors.

Recently unsealed federal court documents state the company used the illegal immigrants from August 2002 through Nov. 28, 2006, a day before federal agents detained about 30 illegal immigrants working on the Ascent condominiums in Covington.

Spectrum was a subcontractor hired to help complete the interior of the 22-story tower. The move-in date for the luxury condominiums has since been moved back until early next year, partly because of labor shortages in the construction industry.

Exact terms of the plea agreement likely will be unsealed when U.S. District Judge David Bunning sentences Wolnitzek on Feb. 29.

He pleaded guilty on Nov. 21 to one felony count of conspiracy to harbor aliens for commercial advantage for personal financial gain.

• Spectrum statement (PDF) • Spectrum lawsuit (PDF)

The crime Wolnitzek pleaded to is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for each illegal immigrant employed.

Another subcontractor in a separate case involving illegals, Robert Pratt, received a 1½-year sentence after pleading guilty to the same charge earlier this month.

In addition to Wolnitzek's plea, his company's attorneys negotiated a guilty plea on behalf of Spectrum to one count of harboring aliens for commercial advantage or personal financial gain, aiding and abetting.

Besides the Ascent project, Spectrum's 265 employees have worked on other major construction projects, including Schermerhorn Symphony Hall and Vanderbilt University Children's Hospital, both in Nashville, Tenn.

While Wolnitzek, free while awaiting sentencing, didn't return phone calls, his company released a written statement.

Spectrum and its owner admitted to using subcontractors who employed illegal immigrants, according to the statement. The contractor has since been fired, according to the statement, and the company is cooperating with federal officials.

"Spectrum's own hiring practices have always complied with immigration law; it should have applied its own stringent standards to its subcontractors with more care," read the statement.

Wolnitzek's case is related to the prosecution of Kent Ratliff Jr., 27, of Liberty Township, according to court records.

It's unclear how Ratliff was connected to Spectrum, but court papers said the crime took place during the same time frame Spectrum used illegal immigrants and Ratliff pleaded guilty in October to the same charge as Wolnitzek.

Ratliff could not be reached for comment and his attorney, Gary Sergent, didn't return phone messages.
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