On July 29, 2008, the owner of a Florida painting company pleaded guilty to
one count of harboring illegal aliens in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (See United States v. Tinoco-Tinoco, M.D. Fla., No. 3:08-cr-00133-HLA-MCR, plea entered 7/29/08). Ruben Tinoco-Tinoco was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in April following the arrests of 34 illegal aliens at various residences in Jacksonville (2 WIR 268, 5/5/08 ). According to the plea agreement, 29 of those aliens said they worked for Tinoco-Tinoco at Taurus Painting Inc., in Jacksonville, Fla.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement-led investigation revealed that from February 2007 through March 2008 numerous alleged illegal aliens were picked up at residences and driven to worksites in cars owned by Tinoco-Tinoco or his business, ICE said. Tinoco-Tinoco faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. In addition, under the terms of the plea agreement, Tinoco-Tinoco agreed to pay $50,000 and surrender two houses in forfeiture. "The recruitment, harboring and transportation of illegal aliens are very serious crimes that we will simply not tolerate," Robert Weber, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Tampa, said in a July 29 statement. "My office devotes significant resources to identify, prosecute and incarcerate these criminals and is determined to continue identifying and shutting down vulnerabilities to our immigration system such as harboring illegal aliens," Weber said.
