Restaurant owner admits employing illegal aliens
Restaurant owner admits employing illegal aliens
August 22, 2008 - 10:46PM
By MAGGIE BORMAN
The Telegraph
SPRINGFIELD - The owner of Toni's Family Restaurant in Mount Clare pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to unlawful employment of illegal aliens.
Besim Tabaku, 34, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Gentiana, 31, is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Court Judge Byron C. Cudmore on Oct. 23.
Authorities confirmed to The Telegraph in May that two federal search warrants were executed (at Toni's Family Restaurant and a Benld residence) on May 28, resulting in four Mexican nationals being taken into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on suspicion of immigration violations. However, ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro declined at the time to release further details, citing an ongoing investigation.
According to the criminal complaint contained in court documents, the timeline of events that led up to Tabaku's guilty plea is as follows:
Marjorie Cherry, a former Toni's Family Restaurant employee, called authorities on Feb. 19, alleging her former employer, Tabaku, regularly and habitually employed illegal aliens at his restaurant, and allowed the illegal aliens to live in a Benld home owned by Tabaku and his wife. Cherry also alleged that the Tabakus, Albanian immigrants with legal immigrant status, defrauded the U.S. government of federal income tax revenue. Cherry also wrote the details of her allegations in a letter dated the same day as her telephone call, which was received at ICE's Springfield office on March 6.
Record checks showed that Besim Tabaku was the registered owner and chief executive of Toni's Family Restaurant, located at 2630 Staunton Road, Mount Clare, and that the Benld residence located at 317 N. Illinois St. is jointly owned by the Tabakus.
On March 27, video surveillance was conducted by two special agents from ICE in the vicinity of Toni's Family Restaurant in Mount Clare and the residence located at 317 N. Illinois St. in Benld. Two Hispanic males were observed working at the restaurant, then leaving by the rear door and riding bicycles to the house in Benld. A short time later, two more Hispanic males left the rear of the restaurant and walked to the same location.
On April 10, about 1:35 p.m., ICE agents from the Springfield office conducted an administrative work site enforcement action in Benld.
About 1:42 p.m., two Hispanic males left the restaurant and began walking down the street in the direction of the house at 317 N. Illinois St.; these two were encountered by agents near the house and taken into custody. About 1:57 p.m., two more Hispanic males left the rear of the restaurant and were taken into custody by agents in the same manner. About 2:10 p.m., agents encountered and captured one more Hispanic male inside the Illinois Street residence.
When questioned regarding their citizenship and residential status, all five of the individuals admitted to being citizens of Mexico illegally present in the United States without documentation or evidence of having undergone inspection and admission.
All five subjects were placed under administrative arrest and taken to ICE's Springfield office for interviews and processing.
During their interviews, all five illegal aliens provided sworn statements. These statements confirmed that they were being paid in cash by Besim Tabaku to work six days per week at Toni's Family Restaurant and that the arrangement included living quarters in the house owned by Tabaku in Benld.
On March 18, ICE's request of the Employer's Contribution and Wage report for the restaurant from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, beginning in the first quarter of 2005 and continuing through the fourth quarter of 2007, showed that for the fourth quarter of 2007, the restaurant listed 20 employees. Two of the individuals on the list are Tabakus.
Significantly, there were no individuals with Hispanic names listed on the Employers 2007 fourth quarter Contribution and Wage reports, even though investigative leads and interviews confirmed that Hispanic employees were employed at Toni's Family Restaurant during this time, the documents said.
On April 24, ICE was contacted by Cherry via telephone, alleging that at least five more illegal aliens had come to work at Toni's since the administrative arrests on April 10 and that the new workers also were living at the house in Benld.
On May 28, ICE agents executed a federal search warrant at the Benld residence, where agents encountered one illegal alien, Israel Pucheta-Sinta, 23. When questioned, Pucheta-Sinta also stated he was employed at Toni's Family Restaurant. He was placed under administrative arrest and taken to Springfield to be interviewed and processed. His statement confirmed he was being paid cash by Tabaku to work in the restaurant six days per week, and the arrangement included living quarters at the Benld residence.
On the same day, ICE agents also executed a federal search warrant at Toni's Family Restaurant, where agents encountered three illegal aliens - Castulo Castro-Perez, 35, Fermin Garcia-Felipe, 22, and Isaias Lucho-Seba, 24 - working at the restaurant at the time the search warrant was executed.
When questioned at the restaurant about their immigration status, all three aliens admitted to having entered the United States illegally and without inspection or admission.
All three were placed under administrative arrest and taken to Springfield for interviews and processing. Again, during interviews, all three men provided sworn statements that they were being paid cash by Tabaku to work in the restaurant six days per week with living arrangements in the Benld house included.
Besim Tabaku remains free on $50,000 bond. He originally pleaded not guilty and asked for a bench trial. On Aug. 13, Tabaku filed a notice of intent to plead guilty, and he pleaded guilty last Friday.
When contacted in May, the Tabakus did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
The Tabakus continue to operate Toni's Family Restaurant in Mount Clare, and while its hours have changed some, it remains open for business.
http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/restau ... amily.html
