Owner of Gire Roofing gets 3 years in prison for visa fraud, employing illegal aliens
Owner of Gire Roofing gets 3 years in prison for visa fraud, employing illegal aliens
by WICS/WRSP Staff
Thursday, February 7th 2019
https://static-28.sinclairstoryline....?1549575764766
Judge (MGN Online)
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough sentenced Edwin J. Gire, 47, owner of Gire Roofing, Inc. in Champaign, to three years in prison for visa fraud.
Gire was also charged with harboring and employing illegal aliens.
Gire was ordered to pay a fine of $30,000 and will remain on supervised release for two years following his release from prison.
The Bureau of Prisons will determine where and when Gire will begin serving his sentence.
Grayson Enterprises, Inc., Gire Roofing's parent company, was sentenced to a three-year term of probation and was ordered to pay $250,000, according to a press release.
Gire and Grayson Enterprises were convicted of visa fraud and three counts of harboring illegal aliens in Jan. 2018 following a bench trial.
Gire had previously entered guilty pleas of three misdemeanor counts of unlawful employment of aliens.
At Thursday's hearing, the judge found Gire and Greyson Enterprises had obstructed justice during the trial by committing perjury and providing false information to the court.
The court then found that as a result, more than 100 fraudulent H-2B worker visas were issued to Gire Roofing between 2011 - 2014.
Gire also provided multiple fraudulent roofing contracts for work that customers never agreed to and contracts with forged signatures of the customers and representatives.
During the trial, the court found evident that proved Gire knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that illegal aliens were allowed to live in a building owned by his company, according to a press release.
By giving the aliens a place to live, Gire was found to have safeguarded the aliens from authorities by making it more difficult for authorities to locate them.
Gire's case was investigated by the U.S. Dept. of State, Diplomatic Security Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations.
https://foxillinois.com/news/local/o...illegal-aliens
