July 1, 2008, 12:03AM
Hailed in China, wanted in U.S.
New life built by local attorney who fled fraud charges 3 years ago comes to end


By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

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In the central Chinese province of Hubei, the tall American retiree was known as an environmental activist to his admiring neighbors.

A retired lawyer from Houston, Kenneth Lee Rothey's campaigns to clean trash from city streets attracted many volunteers. It was a heartwarming story told on state TV and Internet blogs of an American doing good in China. He even earned a nickname, ''the foreign Lei Feng," a reference to a fervent party supporter honored by former Communist leader Mao Zedong.

But unbeknownst to Hubei's residents, thousands of miles away in Houston, Rothey was known for something entirely different: He was wanted for visa fraud and money laundering violations.

Rothey's earlier life caught up to him Monday as he stood before a U.S. magistrate in Alexandria, Va.

Rothey, 69, faces a long list of federal immigration charges he sought to avoid by fleeing to China three years ago and will be returned for trial in Houston.

Last week, he agreed to return to the U.S. to face criminal charges that federal authorities brought against him in March 2005.

After meeting with Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents and State Department officials, Rothey flew from Beijing to Dulles International Airport with ICE agents on Friday. They took him into custody upon arrival in the U.S.

Rothey was charged with nine counts of inducing unlawful immigration and 12 counts of visa fraud, along with money laundering violations, in an scam that netted $267,000 in proceeds, according to ICE officials.

"ICE is pleased that attorney Kenneth Rothey is finally returning to the U.S. to answer his indictment for visa fraud, encouraging Chinese nationals to unlawfully enter the United States, and money laundering," said Robert Rutt, special agent in charge of ICE in Houston.

According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle in Houston, the immigration scheme involved eight U.S. companies paid to create fictional business connections to firms in China. Rothey and his associates would then apply for visas for Chinese workers, claiming their Chinese companies needed to transfer them to the U.S. Some of the Chinese clients paid up to $100,000 for immigrant and work visas, the government says.

One of Rothey's associates, Horacio Golfarini, 46, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. A second associate, Norman Chapa, 52, received a one-year sentence. One of Rothey's employees, Ricardo Aguirre, 53, was placed on probation after pleading guilty to helping set up the phony business relationships.

"Fraudulent visa schemes are unfair to people who want to come to the U.S. legally, as they reduce the number of visas available to those who want to follow our rules and laws," Rutt said. ''This should be a message to those who think about violating our visa and immigration laws that ICE will pursue criminal charges even if they attempt to hide outside our borders."


'Star' in the city
While in China, Rothey motivated Chinese citizens to help clean up cities and advocated environmental awareness, according to blogs such as ''Beijing This Month."

One blog entry last year reported this: ''Rothey, in Central China's Hubei Province, has devoted himself to the cause of environmental protection by collecting litter in the streets. Rothey married a Chinese calligrapher in Huangshi, Hubei Province in 2004 and settled there. He has now become a 'star' in the city, because he often shows up in the streets collecting litter."

Local immigration attorney Gordon Quan said he met Rothey when the attorney first arrived in Houston years ago. Quan joked that he thought Rothey was either a missionary or a government spy because of his command of the Chinese language.

''He spoke Chinese fluently and seemed to be a very nice person," Quan said. ''It was unusual for an Anglo person to be so fluent in Chinese, and he seemed very dedicated to learning ... immigration law."

Quan said Rothey opened up an immigration office in the Chinatown area of Houston and had a busy practice.

''When I first met him, he came across as a very caring individual who wanted to do good things for people," Quan said.

Rothey is not the first Houston attorney charged with obtaining fake immigration documents for Chinese clients.

In January, prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging Houston attorney Shelly Winn with filing more than 70 false asylum claims for Chinese immigrants.

Two of Winn's office assistants were also charged, including Elizabeth Jones — also known as Elizabeth Tsai — who was arrested in Hong Kong on Jan. 10. She was returned to Houston last month and was arraigned on federal charges.

james.pinkerton@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5865079.html