Jefferson City business owner accused of harboring migrants in ‘dangerous’ building

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City business owner who was already accused of withholding more than $935,000 in employee wages has been charged in federal court with harboring several people with “an illegal immigration status.”

Federal court documents accuse Danny Cheng -- who owns Dragon Kitchen in the 2200 block of Missouri Boulevard – of running a “dormitory” of people who were not citizens in the 800 block of Crestmere Court.

Court documents say the home in which the migrants stayed was determined to be dangerous and declared a nuisance, per Jefferson City’s ordinances.

Details in the court documents described more than one employee working 12 hours per day, six days a week at the restaurant and were not given paystubs. Migrants were described as being from China and Mexico in the statement.

A search warrant was served at the Crestmere Court building on Tuesday, and law enforcement noted that a document written in Mandarin and Spanish was taped to a wall stating it was for employee residence only.

The document also included rules, which included employees needing to be ready for work at 9:40 a.m. and telling the residents “not to gather in the front yard to prevent attracting attention from the police.”

At least five people were seen living in the home, according to the probable cause statement.