Restaurant owners face illegal alien charges

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/ ... -headlines

Restaurant owners face illegal alien charges
3 allegedly housed, employed workers from Indonesia, laundered money

By Matthew Dolan
Sun Reporter

March 2, 2006, 5:45 PM EST

Federal authorities charged the owners of a highly rated Japanese restaurant in downtown Baltimore today with employing illegal immigrants and money laundering, arresting three people and detaining about a dozen others on suspected immigration violations.

Tzu Ming Yang, 48, his wife, Jui Fan Lee Yang, age 49, and Jack Chang, 41, all of Clarksville were charged in a criminal complaint with knowingly employing and harboring illegal aliens from Indonesia.

According to the criminal complaints, Tzu and Jui Yang operated three Kawasaki Restaurants in the city -- one in the 400 block of North Charles St. in Mount Vernon; one at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 600 block of North Wolfe St.; and, together with Chang, one in the 900 block of South Ann St. in Fells Point.

During the period from January 1997 until February of this month, the defendants are accused of "paying illegal aliens low wages, no overtime and [taking] their tips," according to court papers.

Each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the money laundering charge, 10 years in prison for harboring aliens and six months in prison for employing illegal aliens.

All three defendants appeared in court for the first time today. U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner released them until their next court appearance but ordered them to surrender their passports, prosecutors said.

A federal immigration agent in Baltimore said that 10 to 15 employees from the restarants were also detained on immigration violations. They could be held or released pending a deportation hearing.

Geesh....I know they broke our laws, but do we have to pay for their incarceration all the time? Can't we just send them back? NO matter what happens, it's all coming out of the tax payers pockets!

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Originally Posted by moosetracks

Geesh....I know they broke our laws, but do we have to pay for their incarceration all the time? Can't we just send them back? NO matter what happens, it's all coming out of the tax payers pockets!

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How about seizing all three restaurants, sell them, use proceeds to pay court & jail cost, pay to send illegal home and put the rest in the deportation kitty?

What about violations of state laws (if applicable to Maryland) requiring restaurant workers to have food handler's certificates?

What about violations of the minimum wage laws?

What about violations of the wage & hour laws?'

What about ID card forgery?

Money Laundering? YES - outstanding, they nailed em that count.

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So, what the hell is your point? Is this any way to treat future citizens? You are mean spirited

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My point is that every time one of these busts occurs, a list of laws have been broken in addition to the immigration laws.

http://steelturman.typepad.com/photo...ng_bangers.JPG
New Congressional Interns Arrive to Work for John McCain and Teddy Kennedy

Good picture, COTO!

re: article Why is the enforcement so hit or miss? There must be thousands of businesses doing the same thing yet they get away with it. I'd like to believe that enforcement is actually beginning, but.....

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Geesh....I know they broke our laws, but do we have to pay for their incarceration all the time? Can't we just send them back? NO matter what happens, it's all coming out of the tax payers pockets!

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Yes, and remember that it's our elected repesentatives that are letting this happen. Not only letting it happen, but in many cases even encouraging illegal immigration.

REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER!

http://www.baltimoresun.com

From the Baltimore Sun

Hiring, theft charges close prominent city restaurant



By Matthew Dolan and Nicole Fuller
Sun reporters

March 3, 2006

A three-star Japanese restaurant near downtown Baltimore stopped rolling sushi yesterday after its owners were arrested on federal charges of employing illegal immigrants and stealing their tips.

Kawasaki Restaurant, which has served elaborate raw fish dinners for more than two decades from a North Charles Street rowhouse in Mount Vernon, remained closed last night. Its sister restaurant - a waterfront cafe in Fells Point - was also shuttered.

Reviewers have described Kawasaki's food as among the region's most delectable for Japanese cuisine. The Baltimore City Paper has frequently rated Kawasaki's as the city's best sushi, from its tame California roll to its more bold entrees of uncooked octopus and sea urchin.

For loyal patrons at its Charles Street restaurant, popular with downtown workers and pre-theater diners, perks included personal lockers for customers' prized chopsticks.

But the late-morning arrests dealt a blow to a restaurant group whose prominence long predated the latest resurgence in the downtown eating scene.

At its smaller establishment on South Ann Street in Fells Point, a sign taped to the door read, "temporary closed."

Amelia Reitz and Josh Wilson, both 24, stopped by for an evening meal and left disappointed.

"I called my friend and asked her where I could get sushi in Fells Point, and she said, 'Sushi in Fells Point - Kawasaki's,'" Reitz said.

Dozens of federal agents had descended hours earlier - just before lunch - on all three Kawasaki restaurants in the city as well as the owners' high-priced homes in Howard County.

They shooed away customers, apprehended the restaurant owners and detained 15 employees. Agents described the workers as illegal immigrants from countries as diverse as Nepal and El Salvador.

"It was basically forced labor," said Mark Bastan, acting special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore. Bastan added that agents did not force the owners to keep the restaurants closed after the raid.

Reached at his home last night, co-owner Tzu Ming Yang declined to comment. "I'm not in a position to talk or anything," he said before hanging up a telephone.

Yang, 48 and his wife, Jui Fan Lee Yang, 49, of Clarksville opened the Kawasaki Restaurant in the 400 block of N. Charles St. in 1984. Court papers say the Yangs are naturalized American citizens from China.

With the same name as one of Baltimore's sister cities in Japan, their walk-up restaurant on Charles Street was recently given permission to display an elaborate painting on silk from the mayor of the Japanese city. The restaurant's bright yellow, red and green awning set off elaborate window decorations of origami fans and birds, Christmas lights and ribbons.

"Kawasaki is one of those restaurants that sets the standard," Sun restaurant critic Elizabeth Large wrote in her three-out-of-four-star review in 1999, describing the "dark red curls of fresh tuna poetically arranged against a deep green leaf."

Another lunch-only branch later opened at Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore. It could not be determined last night whether that branch had also been closed.

With Jack Chang, 41, the Yangs opened the Fells Point cafe about six years ago. Chang is an American citizen originally from Taiwan. A phone message at his Clarksville home last night was not returned.

Never avant garde, the original Kawasaki, with its traditional low-table seating on display in a large window overlooking Charles Street, nonetheless paved the way for the arrival of other Asian restaurants.

"They've been successful but low key," said Diane Feffer Neas, a Baltimore-based restaurant consultant.

But the reputation hid a darker side, according to federal authorities.

Their immigration problems started in 1997, according to court papers.

In June 1997, an immigration enforcement agent issued a warning notice to Tzu Yang telling him he had employed two illegal workers.

The investigation appears to have reopened in September 2002 when federal agents received an anonymous letter accusing both Kawasaki restaurants of employing illegal aliens, court papers show.

Agents investigated, discovering that the owners bought real estate to house their illegal workers, according to court papers.

Federal authorities said that some workers were housed above the Charles Street restaurant. One agent described the conditions as poor. "There were very small rooms, mattresses on the floor and little or no plumbing," Bastan said.

But the owners led a much more upscale life, court papers show. Among them, they owned eight vehicles, including four late-model Lexuses and a 2005 Mercedes C240. Agents also noted 13 bank accounts that they alleged were used in a money laundering operation that involved hiding money earned by the suspected illegal immigrants at the restaurant.

The indictment said the owners were "paying illegal aliens low wages, no overtime and took their tips," according to court papers.

If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the money laundering charge, ten years in prison for harboring aliens and six months in prison for employing illegal aliens.

All three defendants appeared in federal court in downtown Baltimore yesterday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner released them until their next court appearance - scheduled for Wednesday - but ordered them to surrender their passports and stay in Maryland, prosecutors said.

The 15 employees detained from the restaurants - seven from Indonesia, four from El Salvador, three from Nepal and one from China - were all adult males, authorities said.

They were being processed at the federal building on Hopkins Plaza last night on charges of residing in the country illegally. According to Bastan, the men could be held or released pending a deportation hearing.

Luis Ponce, 30, a cook at the restaurant from 1995 to 2002, said he heard of the raid of the restaurant from a friend.

He said another friend, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, worked there as a dishwasher and was arrested this morning while at the restaurant and is being detained.

"My friend's illegal, but I don't know if [Yang] knew," said Ponce, who immigrated to Baltimore from El Salvador in 1992 and said he is a permanent resident. "Somebody called me and said your friend's got by immigration."

At the Charles Street restaurant, a white piece of paper with the word "closed" was taped to the glass door yesterday.

matthew.dolan@baltsun.com nicole.fuller@baltsun.com

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_062170638.html

Mar 3, 2006 5:03 pm US/Eastern

Illegal Alien Raid Leads To Arrests At Restaurant

Suzanne Collins
Reporting


(WJZ) Baltimore, Md. One of Baltimore's most acclaimed sushi restaurants has closed its doors after federal authorities discovered the owners were employing illegal immigrants.

On Friday, patrons of Mount Vernon's Kawasaki Restaurant expressed disappointment after learning that 48-year-old Tzu Ming Yang, his wife, 49-year-old Jui Fan Lee Yang, and 41-year-old Jack Chang, all of Clarksville, were arrested on money laundering charges.

Federal prosecutors say all three owners knowingly employed 15 illegal immigrants, all of from various countries spanning from El Salvador to Nepal, and forced them to work laborious, underpaid shifts.

Federal agents orchestrated an early-morning raid on Thursday, which led to the arrests. The illegal employees were apprehended amongst dozens of shocked customers whom authorities shooed away.

Yang and his wife, Jui, have run the restaurant located in the 400-block of N. Charles street since 1984. The couple also operates a sister restaurant in Fells Point and lunch-only location near Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Court documents reveal that the owners allegedly paid the workers minuscule wages without overtime and tips.

Sources tell Eyewitness News the restaurant operators housed the illegal aliens in dilapidated rooms above the Mount Vernon and Fells Point locations, where the workers were earning a mere $2 an hour.

"It's unfortunate people taking advantage of the less fortunate--I don't know. We're still investigating [whether] this was some sort of indentured servitude," investigator Mark Bastan tells WJZ's Suzanne Collins.

Authorities tell WJZ's Collins the three owners contrived hundreds of thousands of dollars in their secret operation, using the money to buy grandeur homes in affluent subdivisions of Clarksville, Howard County. Agents confiscated $400,000 after raiding the restaurants and the homes.

All three defendants face up to 20 years for money laundering, ten years for harboring aliens and six months in prison for employing illegal aliens. During federal court proceedings in downtown Baltimore on Thursday, a judge released them until their next court appearance, which is scheduled for Wednesday.