Manassas man sentenced on immigration fraud charges
Manassas man sentenced on immigration fraud charges
By Amanda Stewart
Published: February 28, 2008
A Manassas area man was sentenced Thursday to 27 months in prison and two years of supervised release on federal immigration fraud charges.
Fredy Lopez, 50, pleaded guilty in federal court in September to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud.
Federal prosecutors said that Lopez used his business, Lopez Enterprises at 8626 Centreville Road in the Manassas area, to submit fraudulent applications to obtain green cards for illegal immigrants.
The company helped clients apply for temporary status and permanent residency in the United States, according documents on file in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
Between early 2001 and April 17, 2007, Lopez and his employees filed between 25 to 99 false forms to help clients obtain green cards, the court documents stated.
Lopez Enterprises charged between $1,500 and $3,500 for the immigration services. Federal prosecutors estimated that the company earned at least $275,000 from the falsified applications. As part of his sentence, Lopez must pay that money back to the federal government.
In one case, Lopez and his employees filed documents saying that an immigrant had experience as a roofer in El Salvador to qualify him for a roofer position with a company in Manassas, according to the court documents. The immigrant was actually a doctor in El Salvador. But Lopez and his employees prepared letters claiming that the man was a roofer, prosecutors said.
Lopez is also accused of notarizing a letter stating a false date that man entered the country, the court documents said.
Federal prosecutors said that Lopez and his employees did the same thing for other immigrants.
On multiple occasions Lopez and his employees altered the date an immigrant entered the country in documents so that the immigrant would be eligible for temporary protected status, federal prosecutors said.
They also produced false letters on false letterhead claiming that immigrants had work experience to qualify them for certain positions, prosecutors said.
Lopez and his wife came to the United States from El Salvador in 1990 and became permanent U.S. residents in 2002, according to court documents.
Lopez Enterprises opened in 1995 as Fredy Lopez and Company, a tax preparation service.
The company later expanded to include immigration, travel and tour, realty and mortgage and translation services.
According to the company’s Web site, all of the businesses except the immigration service are still operational.
Four other Lopez Enterprises employees have been sentenced for immigration fraud.
On Dec. 18, office manager Maria “Jackieâ€
