Man accused of running illegal immigrant scam

By BEN FINLEY
Bucks County Courier Times

The federal government charged a Falls man on Thursday for his alleged part in a scam involving car wash managers who knowingly employed illegal immigrants and provided stolen identities for them.

None of the car washes was in Bucks County.

Timothy Gibson, 36, of Thornridge Drive in Falls, faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release if convicted, officials said.

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.

Gibson and four other managers of area car washes owned by the Horsham-based Car Care Inc. allegedly employed the illegal immigrants under the names and identities of former, legitimate employees. Each stolen identity, including a Social Security number, was assigned to several illegal immigrants over time, so the managers wouldn't have to file termination papers when the workers quit, according to court documents.

The illegal immigrants were paid minimum wage or better, officials said. The stolen identities allowed the immigrants to cash or deposit their checks at local banks.

The illegal workers' wages were filed with the Internal Revenue Service under the stolen names, which will likely have some tax implications for the former, legal car wash employees, U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan said Thursday at a press conference in Philadelphia.


“This process was an entire sham,â€