Contractor gets 14 months for hiring illegal immigrants

The Virginian-Pilot – Norfolk,VA,USA

By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 7, 2008
NORFOLK

A contractor who hired illegal immigrants to dig ditches for a Verizon Communications project was sentenced Friday to 14 months in prison.

Robert Buttery Sr., 53, of Fauquier County pleaded guilty to hiring, housing and transporting undocumented workers for his company, B&B Cable. He was caught after a state trooper stopped a van on Interstate 264 last summer and discovered 14 of his workers in the back.

B&B was hired by Ivy H. Smith Inc., a Greensboro, NC-based company that was a subcontractor for Fiber Technology Construction Inc., of Canton, Ga., …

“I’m just asking the court to put this in context,” Yates said, noting there are an estimated 20 million illegal immigrants working in the country.

“Depending on who gets elected, it may very well be legal to hire these people,” Yates continued. “John McCain doesn’t want to send them back. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama don’t want to send them back.”

“My job is to follow the law,” Friedman interrupted, adding that he cannot be concerned with political matters.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Metcalfe argued that Buttery could have faced a substantial amount of time in prison had the government decided to indict him on money laundering and tax evasion charges.

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