http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbc ... 008/NEWS01

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Print this article | Go back

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Contractor pleads not guilty in immigration case
Associated Press



COVINGTON, Ky. -- A contractor and his sister charged in federal court with money laundering and harboring illegal workers have pleaded not guilty.

Nearly 100 suspected illegal immigrants were detained in the case.

Robert Pratt and his sister, Josefina Moreno, entered the pleas on Friday in U.S. District Court in Covington. They are accused of paying $141,000 to illegal immigrants who worked on framing crews over the past five years.

Pratt's son, Howard, and daughter, Jacqueline, face charges of harboring illegal aliens or conspiring to harbor illegal aliens.

The Pratt companies -- Progressive Builders and Pratt's Quality Construction -- helped provide Crestview Hills-based Fischer Homes with workers, according to a federal affidavit.

Four Fischer Homes employees also are charged with harboring or conspiring to harbor illegal aliens.

The arrests of the employers and suspected illegal immigrants were the result of a yearlong investigation into the home-building company by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IRS Criminal Investigation division and local authorities.

Meanwhile, Judge David Bunning moved the trial date from July 17 to Oct. 2, calling the case a "complex matter."

The money laundering and conspiracy charges for Moreno and Robert Pratt were added on June 14 in a federal jury indictment.

The other charges came last month.

Print this article | Go back