Thread: MA - Harvard couple charged with harboring an illegal alien

By Staff reports
GateHouse News Service
Posted Sep 19, 2012 @ 05:11 PM

Harvard —

A Harvard couple has been charged in federal court with harboring an illegal alien.

The indictment against Martha Smalanskas, 47, and Richard Smalanskas, 48, alleges that while in Bolivia they hired a 16-year-old nanny to cook, clean and take care of their children.

After three years in Boliva, they brought the nanny to the United States under false documentation, making it appear as if the nanny was related to them. Once in the U.S., it is alleged that the couple took her travel documents and required her to work long hours. She was promised, but not paid, a wage of up to $150 per month. The charges also allege that the couple were aware that the visa for the nanny expired after approximately one month; they told the nanny not to discuss this with anyone and told her not to try to return home or get permanent resident status, because they knew that once her visa expired in January of 1998, she was here illegally.

If convicted, they each face up to 10 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Colonel Timothy Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Kanwit and Suzanne Sullivan of Ortiz’s Civil Rights
Enforcement Team.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Harvard couple charged with harboring an illegal alien - Harvard, MA - The Harvard Post

Feds charge couple from Harvard with harboring illegal immigrant for more than 13 years; nanny allegedly was told not to try to return home


09/19/2012 6:22 PM
By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

A couple from the town of Harvard face up to 10 years in federal prison for charges including harboring an illegal immigrant after they allegedly brought a young woman to the United States to work for them as a nanny, taking her travel documents, telling her not to try to return home, and requiring her to work long hours, federal prosecutors said.

Martha Smalanskas, 47, and Richard Smalanskas, 48, hired a Bolivian teenager when she was 16 while they were in Bolivia. The young woman worked for the couple there for two years before being brought to the United States under false documentation that made it appear she was related to the couple, according to an indictment filed in US District Court in Boston.

Once in the country, prosecutors allege, the couple took away the young woman’s travel documents, and required her to work long hours cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their three children, an indictment filed in US District Court said.

Prosecutors allege the woman worked from about November 1997 to May 2011. The couple also allegedly told her not to try to return home or to get permanent resident status.

The indictment also alleges that the woman was promised a salary of up to $150 a month but was not frequently paid. The couple recorded in a ledger what they owed the young woman while deducting “expenses” the young woman owed from that amount, prosecutors said.

The couple also face a conspiracy charge.

Along with the 10-year prison sentence, if convicted, the couple also face three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

A US attorney’s spokeswoman said the couple haven’t been arrested. They are expected to surrender to the court at an undetermined date.


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