Former record store employee sentenced in Bianco case
February 21, 2008 6:00 AM
BOSTON — Luis Torres, the music store worker who was arrested in the March 6, 2007, immigration raid at Michael Bianco Inc., will be taken into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being sentenced Wednesday to time served.

Mr. Torres, 46, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, has been detained for the 11 months and one week since the high-profile immigration raid. He pleaded guilty in October to charges of selling counterfeit Social Security cards and alien registration cards to some of the illegal immigrants who were employed at Bianco.

Mr. Torres, previously of 500 S. Second St. in New Bedford, appeared for his sentencing in U.S. District Court wearing a green prison jumpsuit. With the assistance of a Spanish interpreter, he told Judge Nancy Gertner he had no objections to a pre-sentencing report prepared by the U.S. Probation Department.

Judge Gertner imposed a sentence of time served that had been agreed upon by the prosecution and defendant. Mr. Torres will be held at an ICE detention facility to await a deportation hearing, which could be held within the next 90 days.

However, Mr. Torres' possible deportation could be delayed. Lawyers for Bianco's former owner and the two former managers who were arrested and indicted on charges of conspiracy to hire illegal immigrants want Mr. Torres to testify at their trials.

Frank A. Libby Jr., the attorney for former Bianco owner Francesco Insolia, filed an application for a material witness warrant last week urging the appropriate federal law enforcement agencies to detain Mr. Torres as a witness.

The material witness warrant is pending. Judge Gertner said another judge will likely decide on the warrant application before Mr. Torres appears for his deportation hearing.

In his application, Mr. Libby says Mr. Torres conspired with two Hispanic managers at Bianco to provide fraudulent identification and work-authorization documents to Spanish-speaking employees.

Mr. Libby alleges the three individuals concealed their conspiracy from Mr. Insolia and the two co-defendants; Dilia Costa, of 43 Sherman St. in New Bedford, and Gloria Melo, of 135 Sprague St. in Fall River.

"There existed a culturally based, mutually beneficial conspiracy" that was concealed from Michael Bianco's "non-Hispanic managerial employees, i.e. the defendants," said Mr. Libby.

Mr. Insolia of 3 Country Club Circle in Pembroke and his two co-defendants were arrested along with Mr. Torres on March 6 when more than 300 federal immigration agents stormed the South End leather manufacturer and rounded up 361 illegal immigrants. Many of those detained in the raid were women who worked as stitchers making military backpacks for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also detained in the raid were Ana Figueroa, the plant manager, and Mario Escoto, a floor manager. Both individuals were not indicted and are being used as government witnesses in the upcoming trial, court records said.

According to affidavits filed after the investigation, Ms. Figueroa directed an undercover ICE agent posing as an illegal immigrant from Mexico who had applied for work at Michael Bianco to see an employee named "Felix" who would help the agent get fake documents.

Mr. Escoto later told the same undercover agent to go "see Luis across the street" at the Aries Record Store and obtain fraudulent documents. Mr. Escoto was referring to Mr. Torres, who produced the undercover agent with documents, for $120. Another undercover agent bought six sets of forged papers from Mr. Torres.

After his arrest, Mr. Torres admitted to investigators that he procured fraudulent documents for at least five or six Bianco employees, court records said.

In a Miranda-waived statement after her arrest, Ms. Figueroa told investigators that she had personally told people they could purchase fraudulent identification and Social Security cards from Mr. Torres.

The defendants' attorneys argue the evidence indicates there was a "material relationship" between Mr. Torres, Mr. Escoto and Ms. Figueroa to provide fake documents to the large number of Hispanic workers at Bianco.

Mr. Libby says the conspiracy "operated substantially along cultural lines" and was therefore not disclosed to the defendants, all of whom are non-Hispanic.

Mr. Insolia, Ms. Costa and Ms. Melo are charged with a felony charge of conspiracy to harbor and encourage aliens and a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to hire unauthorized aliens. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine and three years probation.

Mr. Torres' lawyer, Jose A. Espinosa, said outside the courtroom Wednesday he did not know if his client would be called upon as a witness in Mr. Insolia's trial.

"Whether or not he is used as a witness, the government will have to decide that," Mr. Espinosa said.

As part of his sentence, Mr. Torres was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment fee. If he is deported, he will have to obtain permission from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to re-enter the U.S. legally.

Contact Brian Fraga at bfraga@s-t.com

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