Thread: Former CBP agent took bribes to alter immigration data

Former CBP agent took bribes to alter immigration data

Sun-Times Media Wire
August 30, 2011 4:30PM

A former federal agent at Midway International Airport was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Tuesday for taking thousands of dollars in bribes to allow foreign workers to stay in the United States illegally.

U.S. District Judge Blanche M. Manning imposed the sentence and granted a preliminary order requiring William Mann, 51, of Munster, Ind., to forfeit $28,500 in bribe proceeds.

Mann was the U.S. Customs and Border Protection supervisor at Midway when he received about $1,500 from at least 19 restaurant employees and their spouses to alter their immigration records, arelease from the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Mann pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy, three counts of bribery and three counts of immigration fraud.

He was named in an indictment unsealed in June 2010 along with Rogerio Charu, part owner and general manager of the now-closed Sal E Carvao restaurants in Chicago, Downers Grove and Schaumburg.

According to court documents, in May 2005, Mann conspired to falsify immigration records to make it appear as though Charu’s employees were lawfully in the United States. The employees provided passports to Mann, who fraudulently stamped forms and placed them into the employees’ passports.

Mann then accessed the Treasury Enforcement Communications System, where he altered employees’ immigration records to hide the fact that they were subject to deportation, the release said.

Charu, whose last know residence was in Downers Grove, remains a fugitive and is believed to be in Brazil.

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Former customs officer at Midway gets 46 months in bribery scheme



August 30, 2011|Staff report



A former supervisor with the Customs and Border Protection office at Midway Airport has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for taking nearly $30,000 in bribes in exchange for doctoring immigration documents to allow people to remain in the country illegally, officials said.

William Mann of Munster, Ind. took about $1,500 each from at least 19 people who had worked at closed restaurants in Chicago and Downers Grove, officials said. He also took money from their spouses, they said.

In return, Mann tapped into a law enforcement database and changed immigration and travel documents to make it appear as though they had just entered the country and were eligible to stay here for another year, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Mann, 51, had pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy, bribery and immigration fraud.

Rogerio Charu, part owner and general manager of the former Sal E Carvao restaurant, which had locations in Chicago, Downers Grove and Schaumburg, was charged with conspiring with Mann. Charu, whose last know residence was in Downers Grove, is a fugitive who is believed to be living in Brazil, officials said.

According to court documents, the scheme began in May of 2005. Mann admitted that restaurant employees and their spouses paid him about $1,500 each, either handing him the money personally or passing the money through someone else.

The employees provided Mann with their passports, who had taken an immigration stamp from the Customs secure storage room at Midway Airport. Mann placed fraudulent admission stamps on the immigration forms and placed those forms into each of the employees’ passports and wrote fraudulent exit dates next to the stamps.

After altering the ’ passports, Mann returned to Midway Airport and accessed a law enforcement database. Mann altered the employees’ immigration records to make it appear they had legally entered the United States on flights arriving after a certain date.

Mann also changed their required departure dates.

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