Thread: RI-Guilty plea in illegal immigration case

Guilty plea in illegal immigration case




By Artie Tefft

Published: October 16, 2008

PROVIDENCE – The United States Attorney’s office announced the owner of a cleaning company from Johnston agreed to plead guilty to charges of knowingly hiring illegally undocumented aliens.

Vincent D’Elia, operator of Falcon Maintenance Company, admitted to knowingly hiring illegal aliens for employment and admitted to failing to accurately withhold and pay federal insurance contributions from wages.

The terms of D’Elia’s plea agreement also call for him to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service in the accounting and collection of his tax liabilities.

Falcon Maintenance was one of two companies that contracted with the Rhode Island Judiciary for janitorial services at state courthouses and was raided by ICE on July 15, 2008.

ICE agents and Rhode Island State Police arrested allegedly undocumented aliens at the state courthouses.

Four of those arrested face federal criminal charges that are pending


http://www.turnto10.com/jar/news/local/ ... case/6277/

The terms of D’Elia’s plea agreement also call for him to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service in the accounting and collection of his tax liabilities.

Has the IRS investigative service staff also been reduced, and wasn't that the way they slammed Al Capone?

When doing a search found we have various stories about this so just picked one to piggyback onto.
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RI contractor guilty of hiring illegal immigrants
By Hilary Russ
Associated Press Writer / October 22, 2008

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—A janitorial contractor whose workers were arrested during immigration raids at Rhode Island courthouses in July pleaded guilty to repeatedly hiring people in the country illegally.

Prosecutors revealed new details of the scheme -- including the use of a go-between to submit employment paperwork with fake Social Security numbers -- on Wednesday when Vincent D'Elia, 56, pleaded guilty in federal court.

When other employees tried to tell D'Elia, more than once, that some of his workers were undocumented, he said, "I don't even want to know about it," Assistant U.S. Attorney John McAdams said in court.

"Mr. D'Elia has shown that he accepts responsibility," said defense attorney Thomas Briody. D'Elia and a woman with him declined to comment.

D'Elia owned Falcon Maintenance Co., of Johnston, one of two companies whose workers were arrested during the courthouse raids. Prosecutors said that 18 of D'Elia's 23 courthouse janitors were undocumented.

The state scrapped nearly 50 janitorial contracts with Falcon Maintenance and the other company after 31 employees who cleaned six courthouses were arrested by federal immigration authorities.

D'Elia admitted that from 2003 until the raids in July, he routinely hired illegal immigrants and failed to comply with documentation provisions in federal immigration law.

To get some of those workers on his payroll, D'Elia used one Falcon employee, himself an illegal immigrant, to act as a translator and intermediary for prospective employees, prosecutors said.

Would-be workers filled out employment paperwork using false Social Security numbers and fake identification documents, then handed them off to the go-between, who submitted them to the company.

D'Elia also admitted he didn't properly confirm that he had examined employees' work documents before hiring them.

And D'Elia falsely claimed he registered with E-Verify, the internet-based system required for use by employers who have contracts with the state. The program checks Social Security numbers and helps determine whether new hires are eligible to work in the U.S.

D'Elia is scheduled to be sentenced March 27, 2009, on the single misdemeanor count. He's facing a $3,000 fine for every illegal worker he hired and six months in prison.

By pleading guilty, D'Elia avoids being prosecuted for failing to withhold and then pay back FICA taxes on his undocumented workers' wages from 2004 to 2008. He has agreed to help the Internal Revenue Service account for and collect the outstanding taxes he owes.

Four workers arrested in the courthouse raids are still facing federal criminal charges of document fraud and, in two cases, identity theft. All four worked either for Falcon or the other company, TriState Enterprises, of North Providence. No charges have been filed against TriState Enterprises.

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