Thread: Mass-Roofer to be deported

Roofer to be deported
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Photos
Photos

Daily News photo by Lisa Cassidy
Maria Tacuri, right, speaks with Claudia Paz outside the federal courthouse in Worcester after Tacuri's husband's sentencing hearing yesterday. In the middle is Tacuri's son, Jonathan, 5. Maria and Daniel Tacuri are being deported back to Ecuador after Daniel Tacuri was found guilty on 20 counts of harboring and employing illegal immigrants.

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By Danielle Ameden/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Jul 11, 2008 @ 11:58 PM

WORCESTER — Daniel Tacuri's lawyer painted him as a good man who grew up hungry and dirt poor in Ecuador's Canari province, endured discrimination for being Indian, hired a coyote and followed work to "the promised land."

While eventually building up a successful roofing company in Milford, Tacuri got caught in a series of misfortunes: he was duped by a unscrupulous green card salesman and swindled on a house deal, his lawyer said. Then, in December, Tacuri was hauled to jail on 38 charges for harboring and employing illegal aliens.

Defense attorney Raymond O'Hara described Tacuri as having goodheartedly taken in kin and family friends needing food, work and a roof over their heads.

Calling Tacuri the "single most sympathetic defendant that has come before me," U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV yesterday spared Tacuri more prison time, sentencing him only to time served and a mandatory $2,750 special assessment fee.

"I think this is a unique case," Saylor said. "The defendant is by no means getting off scot-free. He has served time in jail, he will be deported."

After pleading guilty to the charges in April, Tacuri, 33, faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the 20 counts of harboring illegal immigrants, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadine Pellegrini, who prosecuted the case, yesterday asked Saylor to impose a 15-month sentence.

She recalled how Tacuri had hidden when Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents raided his 21 Jefferson St. home in Milford. His wife, Maria, told agents he was in New York.

"We are a country that demands respect and adherence to its laws," argued Pellegrini, who counted Tacuri as a "beacon for people coming from Ecuador."

O'Hara, meanwhile, said justice would be served if Tacuri served no additional time in jail.

"All I can ask is your forgiveness," Tacuri told the judge through a Spanish interpreter.

"I would like to ask God for forgiveness. I would like to ask everyone here for their forgiveness," he said.

While Tacuri's sentence means he will be released, he was led back to jail for now by U.S. marshals after yesterday's hearing. Wearing shackles and a beige prison jumpsuit, Tacuri went off with tears in his eyes.

Until he is deported, Tacuri is expected to remain held at Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island, O'Hara said. He has been held there without bail since his arrest.

Tacuri was caught coming over the Texas border in 1998. He skipped his deportation hearing, which prompted an automatic deportation order.

Tacuri does not have a defense for being here illegally, O'Hara said.

On the bench, Saylor criticized U.S. immigration policy, saying "our immigration laws and immigration enforcement are not functioning perhaps as properly as they should."

He added: "But the law is the law."

Saylor took time to explain the sentence, saying it would be "a hardhearted person" not touched by Tacuri's story.

Saylor discussed being swayed by the circumstances: Tacuri growing up on a mud floor as a child, having a considerable work ethic, being "exploited," and providing other illegal immigrants with food, shelter and employment - not, for instance, false driver's licenses.

"I think this is a truly extraordinary set of circumstances," Saylor said.

He ruled prison time was appropriate, but said Tacuri has "suffered sufficient hardship" while being held at Wyatt.

Neither Pellegrini nor O'Hara objected to Saylor's sentence.

Maria Tacuri appeared at the courthouse after sentencing with the couple's 5-year-old son Jonathan, a U.S. citizen.

Maria, who was smiling and crying, used O'Hara as an interpreter to say the family will start over in Ecuador.

"Now, I have a lot of happiness," Maria said of Daniel's sentence.

Removal proceedings are under way for Maria, who is also an illegal immigrant, O'Hara said.

In court, O'Hara had several character witnesses on hand to vouch for Tacuri, including Diego Low, director of the MetroWest Immigrant Worker Center in Framingham.

While Low doesn't know Tacuri personally, after the hearing he said the roofer has a reputation for being hardworking and for paying his employees well.

Before Saylor, O'Hara described Tacuri as a "hero" among his peers, a man who was cheated and stolen from but treated others fairly.

He described hearing stories about Tacuri from Low and another immigrant advocacy organization.

"They told me that Mr. Tacuri was one of the good guys," O'Hara said.

He added after court: "Milford doesn't understand what they're losing when they lose people like this."

(Danielle Ameden can be reached at 508-634-7521 or dameden@cnc.com.)

PDF: Tacuri's sentencing memorandum

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/ ... e-deported

The guy their portraying as a saint was really the scum of the earth. If anyone here read all the original charges against this guy I'm sure you would agree. How he got off so lightly with just being deported I'll never know.
Well ,at least he lost his vehicles, his properties, his business and the next time he is caught he will be going to prison. And we all know he will be back REAL SOON.