3 imprisoned for hiring illegal immigrants for cleaning firm

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpillegal0305pnmar05,0,4670611.story

3 imprisoned for hiring illegal immigrants for cleaning firm
By Sally Apgar | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 5, 2008

A West Palm Beach man was sentenced Monday to more than four years in prison and ordered to pay $16 million in unpaid taxes for his role in a nationwide tax scheme that employed illegal immigrants as janitors to clean for restaurant chains like Hard Rock Cafe, Dave & Busters and Yardhouse.

Scott Cunningham, 44, the former vice president of Rosenbaum-Cunningham International (RCI), was sentenced to four years and three months by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Along with Cunningham, the company's former president, Richard M. Rosenbaum, 61, of Longwood, was sentenced to 10 years and ordered to pay $16.9 million. A third defendant, Christina A. Flocken, 60, who once served as RCI's controller, was sentenced to 2 1/2 and ordered to pay $15.7 million.

Maloney also ordered the three to forfeit bank accounts, life insurance policies and cash totaling more than $3 million that prosecutors said was derived from their illegal activities. Cunningham is expected to forfeit a home in the gated community of Ibis Golf and Country Club.

In handing down the sentence, Maloney said the crimes involved a "massive tax scheme involving illegal aliens."

Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Julie L. Meyers said, "For too long, unscrupulous employers like those who owned and operated RCI have been able to undercut their competition by building their work force with illegal labor."

Myers added that "targeting employers who profit from illegal hiring is a key component to stopping illegal immigration."

Prosecutors said that between 2001 and 2005, RCI was paid more than $54 million and evaded $15.7 million in federal taxes.

In February 2007, the three were charged in a 23-count indictment with conspiracy to defraud the United States, evading federal employment taxes and harboring illegal immigrantsfor profit. If convicted on all charges, they each faced 15 years in prison.

Just before the indictment was handed down, more than 200 undocumented workers from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and Haiti were rounded up in a raid on 63 RCI job sites across the country, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were detained pending deportation proceedings.

After a plea agreement was reached in November 2007, Cunningham and Flocken pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the government and harboring illegal immigrants. Rosenbaum reached a similar agreement in October 2007.

The indictment said that illegal immigrants were "essential to the success of their scheme" because they were willing to be paid in cash, could be fired without legal recourse and were "highly unlikely to report the irregular nature of their employment."

Sally Apgar can be reached at sapgar@sun-sentinel.com or at 561-228-5506.