Thread: Couple pleads guilty in immigrant workers case

Couple pleads guilty in immigrant workers case
Published July 25, 2008
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — Two members of a family that owns a popular chicken restaurant in Wheaton have pleaded guilty to charges related to the employment of illegal immigrants.
Prosecutors say 56-year-old Francisco Solano and his wife, 60-year-old Ines Hoyos-Solano, both of Germantown, pleaded guilty Thursday to money laundering in U.S. District Court.
Francisco Solano also pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrants and structuring bank transactions to avoid financial reporting requirements.

Both face up to 20 years in prison for money laundering, while Francisco Solano faces an additional 15 years for the other charges.

Two other family members pleaded guilty in the case last month.

As part of a plea agreement, Francisco Solano has agreed to forfeit $7.2 million in cash, property and other assets. Ines Hoyos-Solano has agreed to forfeit more than $1.5 million.
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Great are restaurants paying attention to the news?

Employer Of Illegal Immigrants Sentenced
Posted By: Regina Bratton Date last updated: 12/18/2008 12:15:16 AM

The Co-Owner of a Maryland restaurant is sentenced to 3 years in Federal Prison for employing illegal immigrants.



GREENBELT, Md. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors say a businessman who employed illegal immigrants in his family's Wheaton restaurant has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Fifty-seven-year-old Francisco Solano, co-owner El Pollo Rico, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty earlier this year to conspiring to harbor immigrants and commit money laundering and arranging his bank transactions to avoid having to report them.

Prosecutors say Solano must forfeit $7.2 million derived from the illegal activities, including 13 bank and investor accounts and seven properties in Maryland and Virginia.

The Germantown resident received the longest sentence of the four defendants in the case.

According to a plea agreement, Solano concealed illegal immigrants in homes and businesses he and his wife owned, paying them in cash for their work and accepting only cash for rent.


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