Thread: Lawn Care Company Owner Indicted For Harboring Illegals

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Lawn Care Company Owner Indicted For Harboring Illegal Immigrants

MAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The owner of a lawn care company in Grand Island has been indicted for harboring illegal immigrants at his landscaping and lawn care business.

An indictment unsealed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Omaha accuses David Wortman of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and paying them in cash to work for Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler.

Wortman was indicted on Tuesday, two days before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 19 suspected illegal immigrants at Cloudburst.

A spokesman for ICE said none of Thursday's arrests were for criminal charges other than being in the country illegally. The employees of were being held for processing in the Phelps County Jail.

http://www.ktiv.com/News/index.php?ID=16735

State News from AP

Grand Island immigration raid nets 19; owner charged

By OSKAR GARCIA
Friday, September 7, 2007 6:44 PM CDT

OMAHA, Neb. - The owner of a lawn care company in Grand Island has been charged with harboring illegal immigrants, and 19 of his workers were arrested on suspicion of violating immigration laws.

A criminal complaint unsealed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Nebraska accuses David L. Wortman of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and paying them in cash to work for Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler.

Wortman was charged on Tuesday, and on Thursday U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Cloudburst and arrested the 19 suspected illegal immigrants. Wortman appeared in court on Friday.

A spokesman for ICE said the 19 are suspected of violating immigration laws, but not of other crimes. The employees were taken to Phelps County Jail for processing.

Federal agents went to Cloudburst intending to arrest Wortman but he wasn't there, and the search warrant gave agents the right to question and arrest illegal workers who were there, ICE spokesman Tim Counts said.

Counts said agents believed 11 of those arrested Thursday were from Mexico, six were from El Salvador and two were from Guatemala.

"This was not random or spontaneous by any means, this is part of an ongoing investigation into illegal workers at this company," Counts said.

According to the criminal complaint, the ICE investigation into Cloudburst began in 2004.

A telephone message left with Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler by The Associated Press on Friday was not immediately returned. A number listed for a Dave Wortman in Grand Island was busy and a phone call after business hours to his lawyer, Michael Tasset, was not returned.

Wortman turned himself in and was arraigned on Friday but did not enter a plea, U.S. attorney Joe Stecher said Friday afternoon. A preliminary hearing was set for Sept. 20.

Wortman faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Because Wortman arranged to turn himself in to the U.S. District Court in Lincoln, he was released pending the preliminary hearing.

According to the criminal complaint, Wortman told federal officials that the company's gross sales in 2005 were more than $1.5. million.

The company had provided some lawn care, maintenance and snow removal services for the city of Grand Island.

A spokeswoman for the city said Friday that city officials were reviewing Cloudburst's status as an approved vendor for the city.

The company won a city contract in 2002 to landscape, maintain and remove snow from a street leading into downtown from the south. The contract ended in 2005, according to City Council documents.

In winning the three-year contract, Cloudburst bid nearly $44,000 for lawn care, mowing, irrigation and maintenance _ $9,000 less than another bidder.

City spokeswoman Wendy Meyer-Jerke said in a release that Cloudburst also did some sprinkler maintenance, mowing and provided other services for small improvement projects in 2006-2007.

"Written contracts with the city routinely contain a requirement that the vendor comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, including labor laws," Meyer-Jerke said.

Meyer-Jerke said the city supplied authorities with information on payments it made to Cloudburst.

Those arrested on Thursday can either volunteer themselves for deportation or request a hearing if they believe they have a right to be in the United States. Hearings would take place in Omaha, likely before a Chicago judge through video conferencing.

On the Net:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov

City of Grand Island: http://www.grand-island.com

A service of the Associated Press(AP)

Neb. man sentenced; harbored illegal immigrants





Associated Press - December 10, 2008 5:15 PM ET

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A Grand Island lawn care company owner has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for harboring illegal immigrants and manipulating financial transactions to avoid reporting them.

Fifty-year-old David Wortman pleaded guilty last year to two felony charges. He had turned himself in after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided Cloudburst Lawn and Sprinkler and arrested 19 suspected illegal immigrants.

Wortman also was being investigated for failing to pay overtime to employees. Under terms of his plea agreement, he'll pay more than $$200,000 to the Department of Labor, which will reimburse current and former Cloudburst employees for unpaid overtime.

Wortman was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Omaha on Wednesday.


On the Net:
http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... =menu606_2

The Feds need to indict, arrest and prosecute the owners of Green Tree Landscaping in Bucks County, PA ...the employers of the Ecuadorian illegal alien who murdered ( by purposely ramming the victim with a Green Tree pick-up truck he was driving drunk and without a license) a young Philadelphian bar worker two weeks ago , because the drunk illegal was refused more alcohol and escorted out of the bar after sneaking back in and drinking some more.......