Thread: MISS: Flowood business reopens after '08 immigration raid

Flowood business reopens after '08 immigration raid

Rankin Ledger • November 10, 2009

A Flowood eatery is back in business after a 19-month shutdown caused by an immigration raid.
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Stix, an Asian-cuisine restaurant, reopened last week on Lakeland Drive, company spokeswoman Cindy Payton said.

The restaurant also was granted conditional-use approval by the city of Flowood on Monday to sell by-the-drink liquor, Mayor Gary Rhoads said.

It joins a number of Flowood restaurants that have received or have applied for the licenses after voters approved a measure allowing by-the-glass alcohol sales last summer.

The State Tax Commission will make a final decision on the restaurant's application to sell liquor.

Stix had been closed since March 2008 after nine illegal immigrants were arrested there.

Restaurant owner Gin Hsing Chen, also known as David Chen, pleaded guilty to hiring and employing illegal workers. He agreed to serve a year in prison and forfeit $100,000.

Managers Shaw Li Chen, also known as Judy Wonk, and her husband, Karl Kook Hinge Wonk, pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrants.

They are scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 19.

Mount Fuji Restaurant, doing business as Stix, and Flowood Partners, an Alabama corporation, pleaded guilty to conspiring to harbor illegal immigrants.

Those businesses agreed to two years' probation and forfeiture of more than $418,000.

Payton said the Flowood restaurant is under new management.

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They re-opened, did they hire American citizens this time around?

Restaurant owner Gin Hsing Chen, also known as David Chen, pleaded guilty to hiring and employing illegal workers. He agreed to serve a year in prison and forfeit $100,000.

Managers Shaw Li Chen, also known as Judy Wonk, and her husband, Karl Kook Hinge Wonk, pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrants.

Are they deportable?