Offers of collateral win bail for brothers
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008
ROGERS — Before pledging a house to guarantee that a pair of suspected illegal aliens facing 10 years in prison would show up for trial, Lorena Larson sought her own assurances.
“I think maybe I talked to 50 people,” said Larson, describing the “research” she undertook before she and her husband offered the deed to their investment property as security to bail Arturo and Armando Reyes out of the Benton County jail.
The conversations reaffirmed her belief that the Reyeses were deserving of release.
The brothers, operators of Acambaro Mexican restaurants, are at the center of a high-profile immigration case that began unfolding on Dec. 10 when federal agents raided Acambaro locations in Washington and Benton counties.
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 23 suspected illegal aliens working at the restaurants, including the Reyeses.
The Reyeses had been in jail since the raid, on charges they harbored illegal aliens and laundered money. Immigration authorities seized bank accounts and other assets connected to Acambaro, leaving family patriarch Arturo Reyes Sr. with no assets to secure bail for his sons, said their lawyer, Marc David Seitles of Miami.
Seitles’ appeal for community support to make the bail paid off recently with several families offering deeds to houses, as well as titles to tractor-trailers and other vehicles, as collateral to secure the brothers’ bail.
Their willingness to risk such assets helped persuade U. S. Magistrate Judge James Marschewski to set bail for the Reyeses, whom he had earlier determined were too big a risk of fleeing. The brothers were released from jail March 12, pending a June 2 trial in U. S. District Court in Fayetteville. The bond amounts were $ 50, 000 for Arturo and $ 35, 000 for Armando.
NOT A ‘RANCH’ Besides offering the property, defense attorneys also presented testimony that the Mexican “ranch” that the government suggested was a ready destination should the Reyeses flee the country wasn’t all that it seemed.
Just because the family comes from Ranch Zatemaye doesn’t mean it owns a ranch, Martin Reyes explained in an affidavit testifying to the condition of the house. “In Mexico, the name Ranch mean a little town with less than 100 house,” he wrote. “My brother Arturo is owner of a little house in the town, he is not the owner of the Ranch Zatemaye.” The family property in Ranch Zatemaye, a town in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, is actually a two-bedroom, one-bath house that’s gone without maintenance for 20 years, according to court documents.
Photocopies of deeds attached to the judge’s bail order underscore what’s at risk if the brothers don’t show up for their trial.
“I met with more than a dozen people who were willing to put up whatever they had,” Seitles said. “Most of them had very little equity in their homes because these are not wealthy people.”
Seitles said there are no hidden deals to compensate those who pledged their goods.
Family ties offer a partial explanation: At least two of the four houses that the judge assigned as collateral are owned by couples related to the Reyeses. One was pledged by an older brother who owns another Mexican restaurant in Northwest Arkansas, and at least one other family also is related. Others, such as Larson, offered to pledge houses without any family connections. After conducting her survey of as many as 50 people, and twice visiting with Arturo Reyes in jail, Larson said she had no doubts. The Reyeses have a track record of going out of their way to be charitable, are strongly family oriented — and worthy of trust, she concluded. “I didn’t find anyone who felt they did anything wrong,” said Larson. She and her husband, Lane, put up their rental house at 1520 Janda Drive, valued at $ 100, 000. They owe $ 72, 686 on it. “We understand that if Arturo and Armando Reyes do not show up for their court hearing,” the Larsons wrote to the judge, “that we will lose this property.”
RECORD OF CHARITY Although the government alleges the Reyeses knowingly hired illegal workers at their restaurants, and also laundered money, others who offered houses as collateral said the Reyeses have demonstrated their honesty and charity.
Even so, “it wasn’t an easy decision” to offer an asset as important as a house, said Alicia Gutierrez, a Wal-Mart employee who offered the rental house that she owns at 300 N. C St. in Rogers.
“But like I said, we know they are innocent,” said Gutierrez, who lives in another house in Rogers. “I know that because that’s what my heart tells me.”
An active member of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Rogers, she said the Reyeses always contributed to events and projects when asked.
St. Vincent de Paul also was a prime source for letters of support for the brothers. Monsignor David LeSieur attested to the family’s generosity, and Soledad Hernandez, coordinator of the church’s Aztec dancer’s group, said Arturo Reyes paid for costumes for all 19 dancers.
At Catholic Charities of Arkansas, Stacie Hartsfield said the Reyeses donated Christmas dinners for Hurricane Katrina refugees.
Salvador Herrera, owner of Jalisco Foods, a local food distributor, wrote in a letter to the judge that he “would be more than happy to put up collateral my tractor and trailer or any other vehicle.”
Owners of the houses that the judge assigned as collateral could not be reached or declined to comment. They are: Samuel and Elaine Reyes, who pledged their house at 4439 W. Sandingham in Fayetteville’s Bridgeport subdivision. A deed shows they paid $ 148, 000 for the house in June 1999. It was mortgaged in October 2006 for $ 172, 000.
Samuel Reyes, owner of Elenita’s Mexican Cafe in Fayetteville, is Armando Reyes’ older brother, according to Seitles.
Samuel and Elaine Reyes didn’t respond to a call for comment.
Arturo and Berta Hernandez, a welder in Springdale and housekeeper at World Gym in Bentonville, respectively, according to an affidavit.
They pledged a house at 805 Colley St. in Lowell for which the couple paid $ 117, 000 in March 2002.
Arturo Hernandez acknowledged he is related to the brothers but said he did not want to comment further without checking first through their attorney. Jesus and Angelica Socarro. They pledged two houses: 206 S. Seventh St. in Rogers, near Tillery Elementary School, and 771 Ford Lane in Lowell. Jesus Socarro is a painter, and Angelica is a waitress, they said in an affidavit. They couldn’t be reached for comment.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
