http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007 ... 092966.txt

Saturday, January 13, 2007 7:32 AM CST
Former Julio's worker sentenced


CEDAR RAPIDS --- The employee who inadvertently tipped off immigration officials and led to a raid at Cedar Falls restaurant last year has been sentenced to prison.

Guadalupe Mendoza-Nava, 29, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, allegedly used a fake Social Security number when he applied to live at a Cedar Falls mobile home park.

Trailer park employees realized that when they ran a credit check and alerted immigration agents, who noticed he listed Julio's Restaurant and Cantina as his employer.

Officers with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement served a search warrant at the restaurant in April and found 12 undocumented workers there.

On Thursday, Mendoza-Nava, 29, was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully reentering the United States after having been deported for a felony conviction.

The federal sentence was based on his history of drunk driving and domestic assault.

Records state Mendoza, who has 10 aliases, was deported from the country in April 2004 and apparently returned in June 2005 through California.

He was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment and serve three years of supervised release following his prison time.

On Thursday, Juan Lopez-Angel, the part owner of Julio's, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for harboring illegal aliens for profit and failure to leave the United States following a deportation order.

His partner, Julio Zalapa-Urbina, also was scheduled to be sentenced but allegedly fled to Mexico in December.

In addition to Mendoza-Nava's attempt to use a bogus Social Security number, immigration officials had information about the restaurant from two illegal alien employees who were involved in a Benton County traffic accident.

Agents used an undercover source who applied for a job at Julio's. Lopez told him he could earn $580 in cash a week as a dishwasher and said he didn't need a Social Security Card or a Permanent Resident Alien Card to get the job, according to court records.

The following day, the source worked a full day without showing any documentation and without filling out any paperwork.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.