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Former Miss Bolivia admits to hiring illegal immigrants
Mar 22, 2007

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Map) - An Arizona socialite has agreed to leave the United States as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors over the hiring of illegal immigrants.

Sonia Falcone, of nearby Paradise Valley, pleaded guilty Wednesday to hiring undocumented workers and agreed to voluntarily remove herself from the country by Aug. 15.

The former Miss Bolivia hired a couple to work as her butler/driver and house manager and also hired the couple's son to run errands and another woman to work as a nanny, according to court documents.

Agents arrested the four illegal immigrants in 2006, four years after their hire.

The original indictments against Falcone charged her with lying on a citizenship application and engaging in marriage fraud to obtain immigration paperwork.

Convictions on those felony charges would have been punishable by prison time, plus deportation, authorities said.

Per the plea agreement, the four felony charges were dismissed.

Falcone is scheduled to appear before a federal immigration judge on July 17 but her attorney said she has not decided yet where she'll be moving.

Falcone lives with her three children, all U.S. citizens, in a Paradise Valley estate built for $10.5 million in 2001.

Her husband of 13 years, Pierre Falcone, lives overseas. He gained international attention for alleged involvement in an arms trafficking deal to Angola with the son of former French President Francois Mitterand.

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