Thread: FL - Illegal Worker Investigation

http://www.cfnews13.com/StoryHeadline.aspx?id=20235

Illegal Worker Investigation
Federal authorities are investigating two Osceola County businessmen accused of employing dozens of illegal workers to staff up to 40 area hotels.

Artur Glowacki and Julius Macuha own at least eight companies that provide hotels with employees.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, an affidavit by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shows the two employ more than 200 workers, mostly from Eastern Europe and Mexico, and used vans to transport them to and from hotels.

Many of those hotels are in the tourism corridors of International Drive.

Right now, neither men has been arrested or charged, but agents have detained at least five of their employees. Some are being held as witnesses.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... ws-florida

6 arrested in immigration, fraud scheme

Pedro Ruz Gutierrez
Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted December 20 2006


Two Osceola County businessmen and their associates who supplied area hotels with foreign workers have been indicted on federal immigration and money-laundering charges.

Artur Glowacki, a Polish-born Canadian citizen, his partner Edward Chwojko of South Florida, and fellow Osceola County associate Julius Macuha, along with Macuha's brother and sister-in-law, are accused of conspiracy to induce and harbor illegal workers.

Glowacki, 44, Chwojko, 58, and Glowacki's bookkeeper, Richard Malek, 54, also face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with more than $50 million generated through a series of contracts with dozens of hotels.

Julius Macuha's brother, Peter Macuha, 35, and his Russian wife, Tatiana Khapilina, 31, also are accused of harboring and shielding illegal immigrants. The indictment of the six was released Tuesday after a yearlong investigation by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service and the Osceola County Sheriff's Office.

The defendants allegedly lured illegal immigrant workers with housing and transportation and put them to work in hotel services -- housekeeping, security, front desk and food services.

Housing was a lure

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Hawkins, in a nine-page indictment, said the defendants did not report wages paid to illegal immigrants from 1998 to last month and evaded state unemployment taxes and federal taxes.

According to the indictment, the six co-defendants lured workers by renting apartments for them and providing transportation to and from hotels. The hotel properties have not been identified publicly, but agents visited several of them in early November.

Prosecutors say the defendants also created shell companies to contract with hotels and deposited funds in bank accounts they controlled "in order to promote the illegal enterprise and to conceal the source of the funds from the government."

At their initial appearances Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Karla Spaulding released the Macuha brothers, Khapilina and Malek on their own recognizance. However, Spaulding ordered Chwojko held without bail at the Seminole County Jail because prosecutors said he is a "flight risk."

All but Glowacki were arrested Tuesday morning. Reached Tuesday by phone, Glowacki would not comment. Attorneys for Julius Macuha, 36, and Malek also declined to discuss the case.

Up to 40 hotel contracts

The companies involved include Adelco Services Inc., ISS International LLC, ISS International Inc. and ISS USA Inc. -- all of which are related to the hotel industry and owned and operated by Glowacki. In addition, Chwojko owned Florida Hotel Cleaning Service Inc.

In court records, federal agents say the companies contracted with up to 40 hotels in Central Florida's tourism corridors and held contracts throughout the Southeast. Together, they employed more than 200 workers, mostly from Eastern Europe and Mexico.

In a Nov. 3 raid, federal agents and deputy sheriffs searched Glowacki's $1 million home in Celebration and two condo units associated with him and Julius Macuha.

That day, investigators detained five foreign workers on their way to jobs at hotels. At least two were found to be illegally in the country.

Agents served subpoenas to hotels on International Drive in Orange County and on U.S. Highway 192 in Kissimmee. They also visited the Swan and Dolphin Resort at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Glowacki's home on Stickley Avenue is subject to criminal forfeiture because they suspect it was bought with proceeds tied to the conspiracy charges.

It's all window dressing. Don't misunderstand me, I fully support the arrest of illegals and those that hire them. But they are hardly making a dent in the total problem and Bush knows this. These raids are only political fodder for the passage of Bush's blanket amnesty program in this upcoming congress.