Thread: Horsham firm admits guilt in immigration scheme

Horsham firm admits guilt in immigrant scheme

By BEN FINLEY
Bucks County Courier Times

A Horsham company pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges that it hired illegal immigrants and provided them with false identities.

Car Care, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mace Security International, based in Horsham, hired the illegal immigrants to work at car washes the company owned, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The government said that from 2000 to 2006, Car Care managers operated a scheme that allowed the car washes to hire illegal workers by giving them false names and a way to cash their checks at local banks without identification. The banks were given a list, by some managers, of the employees authorized to cash pay checks without showing identification other than the T-shirts or sweatshirts they wore bearing the Car Care logo.

The government said that Car Care intentionally refrained from filing termination papers when illegal workers quit so that the names of former employees could be given to new illegal workers in order to keep the scheme going.

Several Car Care managers have already pleaded guilty to the charge and are awaiting sentencing, including Timothy Gibson, 36, of Falls Township. He pleaded guilty Monday in federal court for his part in a scheme.

Gibson was the manager of the Super Bright Car Wash on East Germantown Pike in Norristown in 2005 and 2006, when 90 percent of its workers were found to be illegal immigrants, according to the federal indictment. They worked under the identities of people who were former, legitimate employees, officials said.

The government said Gibson and four other managers of area car washes owned by Car Care provided each illegal worker with a stolen identity, including a Social Security number, of a former employee.


As the illegal workers came and went, the identity of one former employee was often assigned to several illegal immigrants, officials said. That way, the managers wouldn't have to file termination papers when the workers quit, according to court documents.

The stolen identities allowed the immigrants to cash or deposit their checks at local banks.

The “sham,â€

Amazing that he actually got busted at all.
Go to ANY car wash in California and just try to speak english to ANY of the workers.

"The grand jury indictment against Gibson and his alleged conspirators was based, in large part, on reports from informants within the company. Car Care, which owned the car washes, was a subsidiary of the New Jersey-based Mace Security International. The car washes involved have since been sold, officials said.'

THERE YOU HAVE IT. INFORMANTS BROUGHT IT TO LIGHT. Don't underestimate your personal power on this. If you are in a work area and know how they are operating illegally, journalize it. Write down, dates, names, time, managers, process. Call the FBI, call ICE tell them what you are seeing and how you are journalizing it. It may take a while but if they are using illegal ways to transfer names, SSN's and the banks are involved you've got them. I'm interested in what is going to happen to the bank.

And the Appropriations Committee doesn't want ICE to do workplace enforcement????????????????????

Go to ANY car wash in California and just try to speak english to ANY of the workers.

Same here.......I don't know why simply noticing all hispanic workers isn't enough of a heads up considering all our laws about not discriminating against other races and ages and having a diverse work force. It's like way too many are must speak Spanish, male only between the age of 18 and 25 and no-one else need bother to apply.

This is a good incident that the Appropriations Committee wants the American citizen, who is for workplace enforcement, not to know about or to ignore.

Sending this to the Democrats on the Appropriation committee.

This is good, that they caught them and charged them. It is really awful that the bank was in on it with them too. Will charges be brought against the bank as well?

There is a large scale car wash here, Washman, and it is next to the McDonalds I have taken my grandson to. I have watched these guys badger and harass customers to finish up the drying with towels, for tips of course. Most people do not seem to want that service and attempt to drive away, but these guys will follow that cars almost to the exit of the driveway onto the main drag.

Ya, this is the case that I found interesting for anyone who's employer may be questionable. They may have the inside tract to information.