Thread: Hiring illegal aliens cost business owner more than $1 mil.

I.C.E. News Release

September 4, 2009

Owner of Annapolis Painting Services sentenced for money laundering and hiring illegal aliens

Owner also ordered to forfeit property worth more than $1 million

BALTIMORE - U.S. District Judge Williams D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Robert T. Bontempo, Jr., 47, of Annapolis, Md., today to six months confinement in a halfway house as part of three years probation for hiring illegal aliens to work in his painting business and money laundering, announced U. S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Quarles had previously entered a preliminary order of forfeiture requiring Bontempo to forfeit five bank accounts, 10 vehicles, including a Porsche Cayenne truck, and seven properties bought or paid for with the proceeds from the operations of his painting business, estimated to be worth more than $1 million.

"Companies who knowingly hire illegal aliens are not only breaking the law, they are also creating a magnet that draws foreign nationals to enter the United States illegally," said William Winter, special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Investigations in Baltimore. "ICE will continue to investigate companies who engage in these illegal employment schemes and target the profits that motivate them."

"Money laundering constitutes a serious threat to our communities and to the integrity of our financial system," stated C. André Martin, IRS Criminal Investigation special agent in charge. "IRS-Criminal Investigation has the financial investigators and expertise that is critical to locating the money and prosecuting the offenders."

From 2003 through 2006, Bontempo, the owner and operator of Tempo Inc., a corporation doing business as Annapolis Painting Services (APS), knowingly hired and employed a significant number - up to 24 at certain times - of individuals who were illegally present in the United States and not authorized to work in the country.

Bontempo provided leased accommodations for some of his illegal workers in one of the several rental units he and his wife owned. APS workers transported some of the illegal aliens to and from their residences to worksites in company vehicles. Bontempo paid these illegal alien workers in cash until sometime in 2005, when the workers began to be paid by check.

Bontempo used the proceeds from the operations of APS, which were derived in part as a result of his hiring illegal aliens, to pay for a variety of business expenses and to pay himself a salary that was in turn used to pay for the mortgage and operational costs of real estate holdings.

U. S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked ICE, the IRS and the Anne Arundel County Police Department for their investigative work. Rosenstein also commended Assistant U. S. Attorney Michael Cunningham who is prosecuting the case.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Tuesday, September 8, 2009
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Edited by Dixie
http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0909/090904baltimore.htm

This should be spread far and wide to reinforce the need to use E-Verify.

Originally Posted by vortex

This should be spread far and wide to reinforce the need to use E-Verify.

I emailed it to my local paper and USA TODAY in hopes that they will help get the word out that hiring illegal aliens can cost you everything that you have.

Most people will stop hiring illegal aliens the very first time you put them in prison, but that cost the taxpayers money. Confiscating all of their property and belongings is a good way to punish them and put money into the U.S. treasury.

A drop in the bucket.....to lead us to beleive they are enforcing the laws. If they were serious ICE would be doing this all over the country, the newspapers would be filled with these stories.

ICE should be going after the thousands upon thousands of small business owners hiring illegals instead of just the bigger companies. Construction and landscaping companies are two of the top industries where illegals are hired, yet rarely is there news of a raid on these businesses.

Where is the link?

Dixie

Related but failed to mention the fine:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-169593-rob ... l+bontempo

6 months confinement to a halfway house is not good enough. He should have received a prison sentence just like any other criminal. If employers know they will get put away in prison they might stop hiring illegal aliens.

Painting-firm owner gets work release
Leopold: 6-month sentence for employing illegal immigrants and laundering proceeds too lenient
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer
Published 09/05/09

BALTIMORE - The owner of Annapolis Painting Services was sentenced yesterday to six months of work release at a local halfway house or detention center on charges he knowingly employed illegal immigrants and then laundered the proceeds from that unlawful activity.

The sentence was designed to allow Robert Bontempo Jr., 47, of Annapolis' Bay Ridge community, to continue working at his company, U.S. District Court Judge William D. Quarles said. He ordered Bontempo - who previously agreed as part of a plea agreement to forfeit seven homes, 10 vehicles and more than $26,000 in cash - to report Jan. 16 to an as-yet unspecified facility, preferably in Montgomery County.

County Executive John R. Leopold and other immigration reform advocates criticized the sentence as too lenient - particularly since federal sentencing guidelines called for Bontempo to serve 15 to 21 months in a federal prison.

"The maximum sentence for this offense was 15 years. It (the final sentence) should have been at least 21 months," said Leopold, arguing the judge shouldn't have been concerned with the continued viability of Annapolis Painting Services. "The highest priority should be to send a strong message (to other business owners) that if you hire illegal immigrants you are going to jail."

Brad Botwin with Help Save Maryland agreed, calling the sentence "embarrassing" and "ridiculous." Help Save Maryland is a group whose goal is to eliminate the use of tax dollars for illegal immigrants.

"The justice system has let down the people of Maryland once again," Botwin said.

Defense attorney David Zinn said he and his client "are grateful for the careful consideration that the court gave to this case."

"It has been a difficult time for Rob, and he looks forward to being able to return his focus to those things that are most important in life - family, friends and the community - and to continuing to deliver quality service to his customers," Zinn stated in an e-mail.

Prosecutors, who argued in court for Bontempo to receive a sentence within the guidelines, declined to comment on the final sentence.

The case

The sentence comes 13 months after federal agents raided the painting company's Annapolis-area office and 15 area homes, and more than four months after Bontempo pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

According to the plea agreement, Bontempo knowingly employed significant numbers of illegal immigrants - up to 24 at times - from 2003 through 2006. He admitted to knowing these workers were not allowed to work in the United States and not requiring them to provide proper documentation.

Bontempo paid the illegal immigrants in cash until 2005, when he started to pay them by check. After reviewing his books, prosecutors noted Bontempo did not report more than $3.6 million in payments during the four years in question.

A preliminary estimate by the Internal Revenue Service puts the company's tax deficiency at more than $1 million. As a condition of Bontempo's probation, he will set up a payment plan with the IRS, according to the agreement.

The sentence

In front of more than 50 supporters yesterday in a packed courtroom, Zinn asked the judge for leniency. He described his client as a helpful and generous man who donated to numerous charities.

Zinn pointed to more than 40 letters of support written by family members and friends, including former Secret Service agents, doctors, pastors and musicians.

There was one from a Hurricane Katrina survivor who said Bontempo sent him money and clothing when he was forced to move to Texas. Another letter from Special Olympics Maryland recalled Bontempo's "decade-long" dedication to the organization. And in a third one, the office manager at Annapolis Painting Services openly worried that if Bontempo was sent to federal prison the company would go under and 28 employees would lose their jobs.

On the other side of the courtroom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cunningham painted a different picture. He said Bontempo was "greedy" and "arrogant - a person who knew what he was supposed to do, but specifically decided to do something else in order to make a buck.

He argued Bontempo deserved more than just a financial penalty, because that would send the wrong message to other business owners.

Quarles agreed Bontempo should be locked up since this operation was more "sophisticated" than a man hiring a day laborer off a street corner. However, he said it was not "shameful to seek a commercial advantage." He noted that Bontempo had a clean record and that he was well liked in the community.

Quarles sentenced the father of two to six months of "community confinement," granted him work release and placed him on probation for three years.

"You won't go home to sleep with your family at night," Quarles said, summarizing the punishment.

U.S. Parole and Probation officials will determine where and how Bontempo will serve his sentence.

The legacy

The criminal case is just one legacy of the raids.

About 50 county police officers helped 75 federal agents conduct the early-morning raids in and around Annapolis. In all, they arrested 46 people, claiming they were all in the country illegally.

It is unclear what happened to the people who were arrested. Officials with CASA de Maryland, a Silver Spring-based immigrant advocacy group, said some agreed to leave the country without a fight, others were deported after hearings, and some remained in federal custody.

CASA is investigating the role county police played in the raids after hearing numerous claims of racial profiling and home invasions by officers. CASA filed a lawsuit against the county last year seeking documents regarding its involvement in the raids. That lawsuit is still pending.

A group of former employees also filed a separate lawsuit against Bontempo and Annapolis Painting Services last year, alleging the company violated federal and state wage laws by not paying overtime. An out-of-court, confidential settlement was reached July 9.

www.hometownannapolis.com