Posted on 07/12/2007 8:55:52 PM PDT by tgslTakoma
Francisco Carlos Solano... Inés Solano... Consuelo Solano... Juan Faustino Solano... were charged with employing and harboring illegal immigrants, money laundering and structuring deposits to avoid financial reporting requirements... Nine employees of their El Pollo Rico restaurant in Wheaton were taken into custody and will be placed in deportation proceedings...
Federal agents say the Solanos deposited more than $6.6 million into a business account between June 2002 and September 2006 in increments of $7,000 to $9,000, which authorities say was done to avoid filing currency transaction reports that must be submitted with deposits that exceed $10,000....
Federal agents seized more than $2 million in cash and jewelry from the Solanos' residences and vehicles...
"We stopped by to eat their pollo al brasa so many times when we were undocumented."
A Guatemalan who works at El Pollo Rico... was devastated to learn that one of her cousins was taken into custody. "He had already built half of a house in Guatemala. Now none of his dreams will come to pass."
Word of the arrests spread throughout the community yesterday, with callers on local Spanish-language radio stations warning listeners to stay away from Maryland...
"What occurred here was not right... They took those poor guys as if they were criminals..."
At least four Montgomery County police officers helped federal agents conduct the investigation... The officers' role was to interview El Pollo Rico employees to gather information about their identity and employment, according to the affidavit...
The extent to which Montgomery officers get involved in immigration matters has become a hotly debated issue in the county...
"We were interviewing witnesses to a crime," said Lt. Ron Hardy of the Montgomery County police special investigations division.
"No action was taken against any of these people when we interviewed them. I don't know if any of those who were interviewed were eventually arrested," by immigration agents..
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Sounds like a real racket the Solano (not Soprano) family had going, in plain sight, in Montgomery County, MD.
The illegals will be outraged.
The Montgomery County Police Department will be roundly criticized by the local illegal alien support groups, and no doubt by the 'Rat controlled county government. And the MoCo PD is going to be in full spin-control, defending their role in this investigation.
The good news is that the illegals are now worried that their free ride in Montgomery County may be over; and they may begin self-deporting.
I sure hope so.
There may be hope for Montgomery County.
They certainly wont find a big welcome in Virginia, it would seem, not in nearby Prince William County.
I wonder why they would go and do something like that, huh? Maybe because... they were criminals? Naaah, couldn't be.
Enforcement works!!!!
Exactly. If they are not criminals, why then they haven’t a thing to worry about. They can “come out of the shadows” and proclaim loudly they do not have legal status, they should not worry as they are “not criminals” (sic).
It’s interesting that the word ‘illegal’ doesn’t seem to really mean ‘illegal.’ To the MSM and the illegals, it’s just a descriptive word to describe ‘undocumented’ immigrants.
ping
“He had already built half of a house in Guatemala. Now none of his dreams will come to pass.”
So much for this criminal wanting to be an American by virtue of being an “immigrant”. He is a thief and nothing more.
I am tired of my country being looted as nothing more than a paycheck.
They aren’t welcome here in Loudoun, either.
Wait, 6.6 million in about 5 years? That is a very profitable chicken cooking restaurant.
I think we are missing some of what is going on here. There was a clear attempt to evade the federal depository transaction laws that every one, illegal alien and citizen, must comply with.
This sounds like drug money laundering. Ever had a chicken stand earn $1,000,000 per year?
By the way, “El Pollo Rico” can be translated to mean the “The Rich Chicken.”
This has las drugas written between the lines. Anyone want to wager? Or are you Pollo?
I’m glad they got arrested — they deserve it. But this smells like anotehr of the government’s phony raids to convince us that they care about illegal immigration, when they clearly don’t.
It sounds like there might be a refugee stream to other parts of the East Coast???
I’m sure you’re right. This is Montgomery Co - virtually a sanctuary county for illegals. It’s not going to scare the 50,000 illegals here home.
I'm glad I was talking on the phone last night, and not in person, or my sister and I might have come to blows. My family lives in Silver Spring, which is next to Wheaton, so I know the area well. My sister was crying how these people just come here to work and what would I do if I were poor and in Mexico.
The more I kept saying, "I wouldn't break the law to get here," the more she kept saying, "But they're poor." I don't know what happened to this girl. How any American, but especially how any black person can support illegal immigration is beyond me. Must be nice to be so middle class and cushioned that a permanent underclass of criminals (and ALL illegal immigrants are criminals) and disease carriers doesn't affect your world.
I think it was the money laundering that caused the Feds to move. The question of the day - is there a terrorist connection.
P.S. I thought I heard a TV report that a riot ensued when word of the arrests got out.
Somebody should check into McDonald’s hiring practices.
Loudoun is north of Prince William, also in Northern Virginia. We share a border with them.
Well, they (Feds) don’t have to stop at Pollo Rico... they can move on over to the Duron Paint store... and then the Dunkin Donuts... and continue making pickups. It’s A-OK by me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.