Prosecutor asks to sell 6 trucks, cash in raid
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/225753/
The federal government seeks to keep and sell six trucks seized in the December raid at Acambaro Mexican restaurants, according to filings Wednesday in U. S. District Court.
The government intends to return two other trucks that aren’t worth enough to keep and sell, said Debbie Groom, assistant U. S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.
Forfeiture proceedings will move forward on the remaining six trucks and $ 2, 571 in cash seized during the raid, the filings state.
Arturo Reyes Jr., 35, and his wife, Silvia Reyes, 36, of Rogers; Armando Reyes, 33, of Lowell; and Lucila Huaracha, 33, are charged in U. S. District Court in Fayetteville with harboring illegal aliens for financial gain. The four are facing criminal and civil actions.
A hearing will be scheduled so the government can argue that the seized vehicles and cash were obtained through the activities that resulted in the arrest and prosecution of the business operators, Groom said.
The forfeiture proceeds are part of the civil action.
An order for the seizure of the trucks and cash was signed Wednesday by U. S. Magistrate Judge James Marschewski.
Groom said the order was a procedural step, because the items already had been confiscated.
The U. S. attorney’s office filed an affidavit to support the seizure April 30. The document detailed parts of the investigation into the businesses, raided Dec. 10.
Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement found 23 suspected illegal aliens on the payroll, 19 of whom were arrested during the raid. Prior to the raid, agents arrested Juan Merlos from El Salvador, and Maria Del Rosario Lopez of Mexico, according to the affidavit.
Merlos told police he was provided with a truck for his commute to work and that he never completed an Employment Eligibility Verification form.
Lopez was a manager at the time of the interview, making $ 8 an hour. She told police she received a paycheck for 40 hours of work per week, but worked an average of 50 hours a week. The overtime was paid in cash at the regular hourly rate, according to the affidavit.
A confidential informant told agents that in the weeks leading up to the raid, Arturo Reyes Jr. told his employees to tell immigration agents his father owned the business if they were asked. He also began to be more insistent about employees providing identification documents, the informant said. The operators of the business had been seeking the return of the vehicles, $ 149, 000 in cash and computers to use as part of a Chapter 11 reorganization plan. U. S. Bankruptcy Judge Ben Barry, however, ruled several weeks ago to leave the assets in government hands until a June 2 trial decides whether the government or the restaurant ultimately should keep them. In his order, Barry wrote that the contested assets may not be property of the bankruptcy estate over which he has jurisdiction, and thus he should hold off on making a decision that could return them to Acambaro.
To contact this reporter: awallworth@arkansasonline. com