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Southside Chinese restaurant owner accused of hiring illegal aliens
Last Update: 2/23/2006 11:23:12 AM


The Owner of a popular Chinese restaurant on the Southside is under arrest accused of hiring illegal aliens.

The feds say the owner would pay the aliens under the table and provide places for them to live.

An affidavit we got from federal immigration officials says a neighbor complained in October 2005, that this four-bedroom house had 26 Chinese people living there.

In November 2005, JSO saw a van from China Kings Super Buffet picking up Chinese people from the house.

December 2005, JSO confirms the van's coming to the buffet and dropping the people off for work.

In January 2006, JSO sees the van taking buffet workers home to a house where neighbors are a little suspicious.

Neighbor Bruce Montgomery said, "I've seen about 1,000 Chinese people in-and-out, in-and-out."

Last week, immigration officials raid the house had five illegal aliens all working at the buffet. They found out they're being paid in cash, between 12-hundred and 25-hundred dollars a month, no taxes. They can eat what they want, but they have to work six-day-a-week, 12 hour days at the restaurant. Neighbors say they're even having to pay to use the washing machine at the house and sleeping on wooden beds.

Federal officials have now arrested the owner and manager at the buffet. The oweners of the restaurant also own the two houses the immigrants were living in, and charged them with bringing in and harboring illegal aliens.

Another Neighbor, Nathaniel Johnson said, "I always thought something was going on there, that didn't surprise me when you all came over and told me."

The restaurant's open for business, but there's a telling sign on the door, it says “help wanted.” The five illegal aliens are being held so they can testify as witnesses against manager Jin Hui Huang and owner Mei Chu Zheng, whose first Federal Court date is next Monday.