3 restaurant chain executives indicted on federal immigration, tax charges
Joint ICE, IRS probe alleges Chuy’s hired illegal alien workers and paid them ‘off the books’
PHOENIX – The father and son owners of a regional Mexican restaurant chain, along with the company’s accountant, will be arraigned in federal court in Tucson Thursday on tax and immigration violations contained in a 19-count indictment stemming from a lengthy probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Mark Evenson, 58, of Paradise Valley, Ariz.; his son, Christopher Evenson, 39, of Oro Valley, Ariz., owners of Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler restaurants with outlets in Arizona and California; and an accountant for the chain, Diane Strehlow, 47, of Tempe, Ariz., are charged with a variety of criminal violations, including the unlawful hiring and harboring of illegal aliens, conspiracy to defraud the IRS and tax evasion. If convicted of all the charges, Mark Evenson faces up to 86 years in prison and a $5.33 million fine; Christopher Evenson faces up to 81 years in prison and a $5.08 million fine; and, Strehlow faces a maximum prison term of 40 years and a $2 million fine.
“For nearly two years, these defendants are alleged to have knowingly dodged hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes in order to maintain an illegal workforce,” said U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke. “That deceitful practice, which hurts all law-abiding tax payers and employers, must stop. There should be no place in our economy for employers who cynically exploit and defy the U.S. tax code to take advantage of illegal labor.”
“Employers who knowingly hire an illegal workforce encourage illegal immigration, take jobs away from legal workers and gain an unfair advantage over their competitors,” said Matt Allen, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Arizona. “This case should be a reminder about the consequences facing employers who exploit illegal alien labor and violate our nation’s laws. No employer, regardless of size, industry, or location is above the law.”
According to the indictment, the Evensons hired undocumented aliens to work in the kitchens of their restaurants; while individuals authorized to work in the United States were hired as servers or in other restaurant jobs. It is alleged the defendants then used two different methods to compensate company employees. The undocumented workers were purportedly paid under the table with no taxes withheld or reported to the IRS. The authorized workers were paid using normal payroll practices, with taxes properly itemized and submitted to the IRS.
“Employment tax evasion undermines public confidence in our tax system and businesses that don’t follow the rules have an unfair advantage over their competitors. Tax evasion is not a victimless crime and results in the loss of future Social Security or Medicare benefits for the employees and loss of tax revenue to the United States government,” stated Dawn Mertz, special agent in charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. The latest tax gap report shows the employment tax gap for the Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) and the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) is approximately $20 billion in underreporting and $5 billion in underpayment.
The Evensons and Strehlow were arrested Wednesday after HSI, IRS and Department of Labor agents executed 20 search warrants related to the case, including 15 at Chuy’s restaurants in Arizona and California.
According to the court document, the Evensons engaged in a pattern and practice of hiring aliens knowing they were not authorized for employment in the United States. On multiple occasions, Mark Evenson stands accused of personally directing employees not to run personal information for illegal aliens through the government, because the government would “kick it back” or would “come and pick them up.” When he received a complaint about illegal aliens working at a restaurant in Lake Havasu City, Mark Evenson allegedly told an employee that “throwing some American people in there,” might stop the complaints. When Christopher Evenson was advised by an employee that a person Christopher Evenson wanted to hire (who was working at another restaurant) was an illegal alien, Christopher Evenson replied that the other restaurant did “the same thing.”
The indictment states that, sometime prior to January 2008, the defendants began filing fraudulent Forms 941 (the Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return) with the IRS, and did so every three months through January 2010. Consequently, the restaurant’s management companies underreported and failed to pay at least $400,000 in Federal Insurance Contribution Act (Social Security and Medicare) taxes throughout the course of the conspiracy.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Arizona.
Since its establishment in 2003, ICE has dramatically enhanced its efforts to combat the unlawful employment of unauthorized workers in this country. ICE’s comprehensive strategy for worksite enforcement is aimed at promoting national security and public safety, protecting critical infrastructure, and ensuring fair labor standards.
In fiscal year 2010, worksite cases initiated by ICE Homeland Security Investigations resulted in the filing of criminal charges against a record 180 owners, employers, managers and/or supervisors – up from 135 in fiscal year 2008. Criminal prosecutions are just one of many tools the agency is using to reduce the demand for illegal employment and protect job opportunities for the nation’s lawful workforce. That enforcement strategy also includes expanded use of civil penalties, debarment and employer audits. In fiscal year 2010, ICE Homeland Security Investigations conducted more than 2,200 audits of employers nationwide.
Right now I am playing around with census data to find areas that are likely to have large numbers of illegal aliens. There are six census tracts where over 70% of the residents are Hispanic. Compared with records on voter registration, very few of these Hispanic residents are registered to vote. I got a hunch that many of these people are not in the country legally and that is why they are not registered to vote.
While the number of illegal Asian residents is much smaller than the number of Hispanic illegal residents, the phenomena exist. There are 16 census tracts were more than 70% of the residents are either Hispanic or Asian. Most of these tracts are along the HWY 85 corridor in Gwinnett, DeKalb, and 3 of these tracts are in Hall county.
After driving these around these census tracts some things become clear. First, there are a lot of warehouses in these areas. It is hard for illegal’s to get work even if it should be harder. Many do not have cars, and most of the jobs they are qualified for are manual labor jobs. With the decline of construction, one of the few jobs that still hires large number of manual workers is in warehouses.
The Labor Department, now controlled by a Conservative Republican, should make inquires into the employment records of the various warehouse, discount furniture stores, and shipping centers. The Labor Department should have the right to inspect for working conditions as well as verifying the identity of the workers. If the Labor Department does not have the authority to make proper inspections, the revenue department does. If there is a question as to the identity of a worker or there is a question of properly filled out tax forms, the state revenue department should be able to investigate.
The next obvious thing is the presence of a large number of low quality hotels, motels, and apartments. Petty crimes are ignored as well as the zoning laws. Plus, I am curious how illegal’s pay to stay at some of these weekly hotels. Require all hotels to record information from a driver’s license or other government issued id before they can accept a non-cash payment. Legal residents from other countries have passports, illegal aliens should not be able to get a US government issued ID or a foreign issued passport approved by our government. Apartments that violate zoning laws should be punished harshly.
The process to reduce the impact of Illegal residents is long, but with a more sympathetic state government, we should be able make some progress.
Dan Stein, President of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) made the following statement:
This past weekend, the New York Times ran an article purporting to examine the “evolution of the modern day immigration reform movement.” Unfortunately, the article did not chronicle the early grassroots work of many individuals who enabled FAIR to begin a balanced, much-needed discussion of immigration policy reform. Instead, the piece merely chronicles the evolving string of attacks designed to shut down meaningful debate in this country. By recycling decade’s old baseless allegations, quoting out-of-context statements, and implying guilt by association, The New York Times has demonstrated it thinks nothing of using its position to belittle one individual in pursuit of indicting the entire immigration reform movement.
Even more disappointing is that The New York Times missed a golden opportunity to engage its readers in the real questions of today’s immigration debate. For example, how does immigration advance our national interests? For most Americans, these interests include balancing the supply and demand for labor, protecting our national security, ensuring that our tax dollars are not depleted by excessive immigration, and preserving our natural resources and energy supplies. Perhaps the most important question is how do the true stakeholders of our immigration policies – the American public – get a say in a process that is dominated by big business, political parties and immigrant special interests? The fact that FAIR exists to empower Americans in this policy process appears completely lost on the New York Times.
Meanwhile, FAIR’s 32-year history is a David and Goliath saga of public service dedicated to debating these issues and developing meaningful solutions that serve all Americans, not just a select few. Our mission is to examine immigration trends and effects, educate American citizens on the impact of sustained high-volume immigration, and offer practical, bipartisan solutions that will best serve American environmental, societal, and economic interests today and into the future. Our mission is guided by a longstanding abiding policy of never advocating immigration policies that discriminate for or against anyone based on race, creed, color, religion, gender or sexual orientation. Equal justice under the law is the law of FAIR.
Throughout the battle for sensible immigration reform, FAIR has evolved and grown dramatically, attracting respect and support by diverse groups of individuals across the political spectrum for its support of the American worker, for our national security, our environment – and for our rule of law. The contemporary movement reflects the opinions and concerns, not of one individual, but of millions of Americans worried about the impact and costs of uncontrolled illegal immigration and excessive levels of legal immigration.
FAIR is proud of its long history of achievement in this very emotional and very human debate. The morality of the subject is challenging: people from all sides have very different views. But we have built a bipartisan organization with a highly respected Board of Directors and National Advisory Board composed of nationally known Republicans and Democrats – supported by a broad based membership, a range of foundations, a diversified funding base, and a strong, professional staff. FAIR is one of only a few immigration policy organizations – indeed one of the very few charities in the United States – certified by the Better Business Bureau as meeting all giving standards for a charitable organization.
We stand by our record and invite scrutiny by the media and scholars interested in writing unbiased stories and conducting serious research.
“There’s nobody I’d like to thank more than Jerry Gonzalez, his organization, GALEO, the ACLU and the rest of the open-borders race baiters for their rallies with thousands of screaming illegals chanting in a foreign language in front of the Georgia Capitol, which served to propel our legislation through the process,” King said.
Cobb Republicans helped pass illegal immigration bill
by Jon Gillooly
The Marietta Daily Journal
April 19, 2011 12:00
SMYRNA – State Rep. Rich Golick (R-Smyrna), a co-sponsor of the controversial new immigration bill awaiting Gov. Nathan Deal’s signature, said the measure represents a giant step forward in enforcing the laws against illegal immigrants.
The most significant provision in the bill is the requirement that private business use the federal E-Verify system to confirm the legal status of employees, he said.
Specifically, businesses with 10 or more employees must sign an affidavit swearing to use E-Verify to obtain or renew a business license/occupational tax certificate. Until now, only public employers such as the City of Marietta and their contractors were required to use E-Verify on newly hired employees.
The bill also clarifies the authority of local law enforcement by allowing them to inquire into a suspect’s immigration status when that suspect is under investigation for another crime.
Golick said under no circumstance would police be able to simply inquire about someone’s immigration status at the officer’s discretion. Rather, only when an officer has probable cause to believe the individual has committed another crime, and the individual is unable to produce proper identification can the officer attempt to establish the immigration status of the individual. Golick said that provision is a significant and strengthening distinction from the Arizona law.
“Georgia has more illegal aliens than the state of Arizona, and my understanding is that recently released Census figures indicate that the state with the fastest rate of growth of illegal aliens over the past decade was Georgia,” Golick said. “This has had a draining effect on our dwindling resources, especially given the economic recession.”
State Rep. David Wilkerson (D-Austell) said his primary reason for voting against the bill is that immigration is a federal issue. Then there is the point that similar legislation in Arizona is caught up in the court system.
“Until the Arizona case makes its way through the court, I think we’re just opening ourselves up to some huge legal bills,” Wilkerson said.
To Wilkerson’s first point, Golick said the federal government has consistently failed on the issue of immigration reform, making it inevitable that states would step in.
Like Wilkerson, Golick expects there to be lawsuits.
“To be sure, there will be litigation, but we have worked with our friend, Attorney General Sam Olens, on this issue every step of the way, and we are confident of our position,” Golick said.
Wilkerson said another concern is that Georgia’s economy relies on agriculture, which will be hit by the law when police begin demanding to see immigration papers of workers in that field.
“Police officers are expected to basically question anyone they think might be here illegally,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson said that’s not only going to chill the migrant worker population, but he expects it will impact the hospitality industry as various groups boycott the state.
“We might have moved down a few notches as far as attraction. Too many groups feel like it’s not something that should be done,” Wilkerson said.
But anti-illegal immigration activist D.A. King said there’s no excuse for allowing illegal immigration.
“Taxpayer-subsidized, black market labor is only cheap for employers. It’s a huge expense for the nation,” King said. Moreover, to threaten a state boycott for simply enforcing the law is extortion, he said.
Golick said the radical left sought to demonize him and the bill’s supporters at every turn as they worked to pass the bill.
“They continue to be oblivious to the fact that law-abiding citizens bitterly resent those who break our laws to get here, and then have the nerve to demand public benefits as if they’re entitled to them – and then call us racists and everything else under the sun when we choose to live under the rule of law,” Golick said.
Both Golick and King said the tactics of the opposition only reinforced the resolve to pass the bill.
“There’s nobody I’d like to thank more than Jerry Gonzalez, his organization, GALEO, the ACLU and the rest of the open-borders race baiters for their rallies with thousands of screaming illegals chanting in a foreign language in front of the Georgia Capitol, which served to propel our legislation through the process,” King said.
Of Cobb’s 19-member delegation, all of the Republicans except Bobby Franklin, of east Cobb, voted for House Bill 87, known as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011. All of the Democrats except Terry Johnson, of Marietta, voted against the bill.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Cobb Republicans helped pass illegal immigration bill
You should be ashamed. ALL of us were immigrants at one time, unless you are a native American. By historical standards , all our ancestors would be illegal today. Most nineteenth century immigrants were admitted to this country with far fewer requirements and little legally enforced follow-up documentation.
If your were truly American, you would be far to everyone trying to live here. Are any of you willing to clean hotel rooms, pick peaches or lettuce, or do landscaping work for for minimum wage? Sound like the members of your “Society need some lessons in compassion and equality! Got Bigots???
___________________________________________
Technical information:
Remote addr:
Browser:
___________________________________________
The following comma-delimited string can be used to import data into a spreadsheet or database. This information is also archived on the website server:
first name, middle initial, last name, address, city, state, zip code, phone, email address, email alerts, registration date yyyymmdd, registration date mmddyyyy
Governor Deal has said he will sign HB 87 into law.
We were successful Thursday in getting this important legislation passed in the General Assembly.
One step remaining: PLEASE CALL GOVERNOR DEAL’S OFFICE RIGHT NOW TO “SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR CAMPAIGN PROMISE TO SIGN A BILL LIKE HB 87! ALL OF GEORGIA IS WATCHING AND WE HOPE YOU WILL SIGN IT IN YOUR FIRST 100 DAYS! I AM A REAL, VOTING CITIZEN AND NOT A PUPPET OF THE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS OR AN ILLEGAL ALIEN.” 404 656 1776
THEN, PLEASE CALL MATT RAMSEY’S OFFICE TO SAY ” THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE!” 404.656.7146
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said on Friday he would sign into law an Arizona-style immigration bill, a move that would thrust his state into the center of the national debate over securing the country’s borders. — The measure “fulfills his campaign promise to crack down on the high expenses that state and local governments here incur because of illegal immigration,” spokesman Brian Robinson said…
“We’re 500 inmates below where we were last year.” (Note: L.A. County cut its prison population too — by releasing inmates early.)
SB 1070: A Year Later
Pearce, Brewer stand firm behind immigration law
It provoked demonstrations and boycotts. And some key provisions have been enjoined by federal courts.
But a year after Gov. Jan Brewer signed it into law, you’ll never convince Senate President Russell Pearce that SB 1070 which he crafted is anything but an unqualified success.
“They’re leaving in caravans,” he said of illegal immigrants.
“I’ve talked to a U-Haul dealer,” Pearce continued. “He said business has never been better.” […]
The Obama administration also did not seek to block enforcement of another provision of SB 1070 which makes it a crime to stop a vehicle in traffic to hire a day laborer, or for someone looking for work to get into a stopped vehicle.
And Bolton refused to block Arizona from enforcing some other provisions of SB 1070, including a separate state crime making it illegal to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant and changes in law dealing with impoundment of vehicles that are used to transport those not in the country legally.
All of that, Pearce said, has had an effect.
“Violent crime has dropped three times the national average in Arizona,” he said.
“That’s huge,” Pearce continued. “How many lives does that mean? How many victims does that avoid?”
There’s a financial component to that, too.
Pearce said prison population usually increases by between 70 and 140 a month.
“We’re 500 inmates below where we were last year,” he said. That, said Pearce, saves not only about $30,000 a year per inmates but also avoids prosecution costs.
And Pearce said the decline in illegal immigrant population also has reduced what the state needs to spend in aid to public schools, as families pack up for elsewhere.
The open borders mob lost another battle in Georgia. This is a feeble attempt to marginalize the majority of Americans who want sustainable, reasonable, traditional and lawful immigration that benefits the USA.
LET ME MAKE THIS CRYSTAL CLEAR: DR. JOHN TANTON IS A LONG-TIME RESPECTED PERSONAL FRIEND AND HERO.
