Former restaurant operator, accomplice sentenced for immigration document fraud
Former restaurant operator, accomplice sentenced for immigration document fraud scheme
US attorneys: Financial scheme targeted people seeking legitimate immigration documents
POSTED TODAY, 4:11 PM UPDATED TODAY, 4:11 PM
http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat...1120885118.jpg
By Troy Blevins
Web - News Editor
SAN ANTONIO - The former operator of the Los Compadres Restaurant, in La Vernia, Texas, was sentenced to prison for fraudulently benefiting from a financial scheme that targeted people seeking legitimate immigration documents, U.S. attorneys said.
Yolanda Hernandez de Arteaga, 49, was sentenced Friday to 2 ½ years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Hernandez de Arteaga's co-defendant, Maria de Lourdes Montano-Vicencio, 57, who is living illegally in Houston, was also sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for her role in the scheme, according to U.S. attorneys.
In addition to the prison terms, Hernandez de Arteaga and Montano-Vicencio were ordered to pay $144,063 restitution to their victims, authorities said.
"Hernandez de Arteaga and Montano-Vicencio twice victimized these immigrants," said acting U.S. Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr. "They first stole their money with the promise of legal papers. Then they extorted their silence with the threat of reporting them to immigration authorities."
From October 2010 through December 2012, Hernandez de Arteaga and Montano-Vicencio initiated a series of financial fraud schemes, including numerous incidents of wire fraud whereby they would induce vulnerable immigrants in the LaVernia area into giving them money in exchange for securing legal immigration status documents, according to court records.
In the schemes, Hernandez de Arteaga and Montano-Vicencio claimed to have personal contacts with immigration authorities who could provide each victim with items such as a Social Security card, a resident alien card and a work permit in about six months, U.S. attorneys said. It was part of the scheme that the two did not provide any documents to the immigrants
During the time of the conspiracy, Hernandez de Arteaga and Montano-Vicencio collected more than $100,000 from more than 60 immigrants desperate for legal immigration status documents, U.S. attorneys said. When the victim immigrants became angry because they never received any documents or refunds, Hernandez de Arteaga and Montano-Vicencio threatened to notify immigration authorities and facilitate the deportation of the immigrants if the victims made trouble, according to the charges
During the scheme, Hernandez de Arteaga wired proceeds from the scheme from LaVernia to Montano-Vicencio in Houston via Western Union or MoneyGram, according to U.S. attorneys.
In December 2014, Hernandez de Arteaga pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five substantive counts of wire fraud. In February 2013, Montano-Vicencio pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud, authorities said.
"The defendants preyed on vulnerable victims and exploited them for profit," said Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs, of FBI San Antonio. "Detecting and bringing to justice those who perpetrate these insidious fraud schemes will always be a top priority for the FBI."
http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat...ud-scheme.html
