Judge sentences former Chinese restaurant owners to probation in illegal immigrant case
A federal judge sentenced three people
By Brendan Kirby
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MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced three people who used to be involved in a Chinese restaurant to probation for harboring illegal immigrants who worked at the establishment.
The defendants pleaded guilty to the federal charges in June.
U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose agreed the defendants should not face imprisonment:
Zheng Kong Zheng, who incorporated the now-closed China Super Buffet on Airport Boulevard in 2000, will spend two years on probation. The judge ordered the first six months of that be under home confinement. De Yun Wang, who was Zheng’s wife and also worked in the restaurant, will spend a year on probation. Kong Mei Zheng, who is Zheng Kong Zheng’s sister and was the owner of the restaurant, will spend a year on probation.
All three defendants are Chinese citizens and subject to possible deportation, but DuBose recommended to immigration officials that they be allowed to remain in the United States.
Attorneys for the defendants asked for leniency. Howard Cohn, who represents Kong Zheng, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that his client had a clean criminal record prior to the immigration charges.
“As a first-time offender who is 55 years old, and for several years retired, the prospect of Ms. Zheng reoffending is slim,” he wrote.
Lawyer Michael Walsh made a similar argument on behalf of Zheng Kong Zheng and Wang.
“This (is the) First Conviction for Mr. Zheng and Ms. Wang and they are unlikely to reoffend,” he wrote.
The charges resulted from an anonymous tip in May 2009 that China Super Buffet was hiring workers who had entered the country unlawfully.
Zheng Kong Zheng and Wang admitted that they set up the workers at a house they owned on Newport Drive West and another on San Juan Drive owned by Kong Mei Zheng. Those workers traveled back and forth from home to work in a 2011 GMC van owned by the restaurant, according to court records.
Law enforcement officers stopped the van four times from 2015 to 2018. Each time, a restaurant owner or manager was driving the van, according to plea documents. The workers were from China, Medico and Guatemala, those documents show.
The defendants admitted to paying the workers in cash to conceal their employment. They were not listed in Alabama Department of Revenue wage records.
The defendants have agreed to surrender $722,650 seized from bank accounts and safe deposit boxes, along with the properties where the illegal immigrant workers were living. The defendants also are giving up four properties in Orlando.
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