Father, daughter sentenced for smuggling

Father, daughter sentenced for smuggling

	Published : Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:25 By : Agencies Print this Story

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut businessman was sentenced Monday to 10 months in prison for illegally recruiting Portuguese immigrants to work in his Dunkin' Donuts stores, while his daughter received home confinement and community service for her role in the scheme.

Jose Calhelha, 47, of Guilford, pleaded guilty in December in U.S. District Court to enticing illegal aliens to the U.S. and harboring them. His daughter, 23-year-old Diana Calhelha, was sentenced to one month home confinement and 250 hours of community service after she pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of hiring undocumented aliens.

Jose Calhelha, who has since sold the stores and was required to pay a $1 million fine, admitted to hiring six illegal aliens. He must report to prison on July 6.

His attorney, William Dow III, said Calhelha was a classic immigrant success story, arriving from Portugal when he was 13 and working so hard he eventually became a store owner. Dow expressed concerns that his client was being made a 'poster boy' for recent stepped up immigration enforcement of employers who violate immigration laws.

'He acknowledges what he did was wrong, has from day one,' Dow said.

But prosecutors accused Calhelha of a pattern of hiring and mistreating illegal workers.

'This is an immigrant who took advantage of other immigrants,' prosecutor Krishna Patel said. 'This was all about his bottom line.'

Prosecutors said Calhelha placed employment advertisements in Portuguese newspapers, then illegally brought managers to the United States to work in his 10 stores in Branford, Westbrook, Derby, East Haven and Old Saybrook.

The managers were paid about $250 a week for up to 85 hours of work, including landscaping, painting and snow removal at his businesses and home, according to the indictment. They lived in Calhelha's home or in an apartment he rented.

Calhelha's daughter made about $260,000 in 2005, prosecutors said.

She tearfully apologized before her sentencing.

'I understand what I did was wrong,' Diana Calhelha said. 'I promise to never stand before this court again.'

Prosecutors urged the judge to sentence Jose Calhelha at the top of the 10 to 16 months in prison called for under sentenced guidelines and to order his daughter to serve at least 500 hours of community service.

Authorities accused the pair of verbally abusing the workers, but said it was difficult to find witnesses in the case.

Prosecutors say an investigation by Dunkin' Donuts corporate headquarters found that many if not most of Calhelha's employees were illegal and that some of his employees worked up to 80 hours per week without overtime. Immigration forms were falsified and workers were paid under false names, authorities said.

Attorneys for Calhelha and his daughter said the sentences urged by prosecutors were too harsh compared to similar cases. They denied mistreating the workers, providing them with fraudulent documents or engaging in a long-term scheme to bring aliens to the U.S. and defraud them.

Calhelha paid the Portuguese managers for round-trip airplane tickets and provided free room and board with a big screen television, billiards table and access to the family swimming pool, his attorneys said. He also says he provided transportation and bought the men clothing and cell phones.