Herrin men sentenced in tax, immigration case
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:06 PM CDT



BENTON - Two Herrin men in the restaurant business who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens were sentenced Tuesday in federal court at Benton.

Duo Chen and Justin Qiu, both 37, had pleaded guilty on Oct. 28.

Chen was sentenced to 16 months in prison, fined $6,000 and ordered to pay $228,238 restitution to the United States. He also must serve a three-year term of supervised release after his prison term.

Qiu was sentenced to five years of probation and 10 weekends in jail and was fined $10,000. He was ordered to pay restitution of $16,310 to the United States and to forfeit $45,000 to the federal government as well. The sentences were announced Tuesday by A. Courtney Cox, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

Chen owned and operated Kew Garden, Inc., which did business as the Kew Gardens Chinese restaurant in Herrin.

Chen also shared in the ownership of Southern Grill, Inc., with his brother-in-law, Justin Qiu. Southern Grill, Inc., operated Wok N' Roll, a buffet-style restaurant in Marion.

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