Thread: Dunkin' Donuts owner pleads guilty to recruiting illegal ali

I agree with you Had_enuf. They were taking away a Haitian's residency and were trying to find another country for him to go to as Haiti wouldn't take him. If they can do it to him then they should do it to the Dunkin Donuts guy.

As for being careful eating there. I would be more worried about the ice cream that they sell and some of the drinks.

Father, daughter sentenced for smuggling

Last Updated: 30-April-2007 23:08:09



Jose Calhelha, 47, of Guilford, pleaded guilty in December in U.S. District Court to enticing illegal aliens to the U.S. and harboring them. His daughter, 23-year-old Diana Calhelha, was sentenced to one month home confinement and 250 hours of community service after she pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of hiring undocumented aliens.

Jose Calhelha, who has since sold the stores and was required to pay a $1 million fine, admitted to hiring six illegal aliens. He must report to prison on July 6.

His attorney, William Dow III, said Calhelha was a classic immigrant success story, arriving from Portugal when he was 13 and working so hard he eventually became a store owner. Dow expressed concerns that his client was being made a "poster boy" for recent stepped up immigration enforcement of employers who violate immigration laws.

"He acknowledges what he did was wrong, has from day one," Dow said.

But prosecutors accused Calhelha of a pattern of hiring and mistreating illegal workers.

"This is an immigrant who took advantage of other immigrants," prosecutor Krishna Patel said. "This was all about his bottom line." Prosecutors said Calhelha placed employment advertisements in Portuguese newspapers, then illegally brought managers to the United States to work in his 10 stores in Branford, Westbrook, Derby, East Haven and Old Saybrook.

The managers were paid about $250 a week for up to 85 hours of work, including landscaping, painting and snow removal at his businesses and home, according to the indictment. They lived in Calhelha's home or in an apartment he rented.

Calhelha's daughter made about $260,000 in 2005, prosecutors said.

She tearfully apologized before her sentencing.

"I understand what I did was wrong," Diana Calhelha said. "I promise to never stand before this court again." Prosecutors urged the judge to sentence Jose Calhelha at the top of the 10 to 16 months in prison called for under sentenced guidelines and to order his daughter to serve at least 500 hours of community service.

Authorities accused the pair of verbally abusing the workers, but said it was difficult to find witnesses in the case.

Prosecutors say an investigation by Dunkin' Donuts corporate headquarters found that many if not most of Calhelha's employees were illegal and that some of his employees worked up to 80 hours per week without overtime. Immigration forms were falsified and workers were paid under false names, authorities said.

Attorneys for Calhelha and his daughter said the sentences urged by prosecutors were too harsh compared to similar cases. They denied mistreating the workers, providing them with fraudulent documents or engaging in a long-term scheme to bring aliens to the U.S. and defraud them.

Calhelha paid the Portuguese managers for round-trip airplane tickets and provided free room and board with a big screen television, billiards table and access to the family swimming pool, his attorneys said. He also says he provided transportation and bought the men clothing and cell phones.

http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=398894

"This is an immigrant who took advantage of other immigrants," prosecutor Krishna Patel said. "This was all about his bottom line." Prosecutors said Calhelha placed employment advertisements in Portuguese newspapers, then illegally brought managers to the United States to work in his 10 stores in Branford, Westbrook, Derby, East Haven and Old Saybrook.

The Hispanics in LA are good and screwing each other this same way. No honor among thieves I guess

Same in Miami.

I agree. They should deport him after his sentence and revoke his citizenship.

Sentence In Fraud Involving Illegals
By DAVID FUNKHOUSER

Courant Staff Writer

October 13, 2007

NEW HAVEN

Antonio Fernandes, brother-in-law of the Guilford man sent to prison earlier this year for smuggling illegal immigrants from Portugal into the country to work in his doughnut shops, has been sentenced in U.S. District Court to two years' probation for his role in the scheme.

Fernandes pleaded guilty to one count of selling fraudulent documents to an undocumented alien to help the man work at a Dunkin' Donuts owned by Jose Calhelha.

Federal Judge Janet Bond Arterton on Thursday also ordered Fernandes to serve 100 hours of community service and pay a $1,000 fine. Fernandes is a naturalized citizen who came to the United States from Portugal with his parents in 1978.

He has been out on bond since March and has been living with his wife in an apartment in Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

Calhelha, also a Portuguese immigrant, was sentenced on April 30 to 10 months in prison and two years of supervised release for violating U.S. immigration laws. The court sentenced his daughter, Diana, to a year of probation, starting with a month of home confinement and community service for her role in the scheme.

Calhelha earned a fortune by building a collection of 10 doughnut shops from Derby to Old Saybrook. He advertised in Portugal for people to run his stores. Some of those he hired turned against him, claiming he broke promises to help them gain legal residence and treated them as indentured servants.

His doughnut empire fell apart after investigations by the parent company, Dunkin Brands, and the federal Social Security Administration revealed that many of his employees were illegal immigrants. The investigations also discovered that management had helped illegal employees get false identification.

Calhelha was forced to sell his stores and paid the company a $1.5 million penalty. He also forfeited $1 million to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and paid $50,000 to the Department of Labor to settle wage claims from four former employees.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ct ... 4620.story