PORTLAND, Maine — One of two brothers who own Mexican restaurants in central and southern Maine was arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court on charges related to the employment of illegal aliens.
Hector Fuentes, 37, of Waterville pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens for profit, aiding and abetting document fraud, and three counts of harboring undocumented aliens for profit.
Hector Fuentes, who was indicted earlier this month by a federal grand jury, and Guillermo Fuentes, 35, of Westbrook were arrested on Sept. 21 when federal agents raided their restaurants and the houses where workers live.
Hector Fuentes remains free on $100,000 bail secured by $10,000 cash, according to court documents.
If Guillermo Fuentes has been indicted by a federal grand jury, that indictment has not been made public.
The brothers own the Fajita Grill Mexican Restaurant in Westbrook, the Cancun Mexican Restaurant in Waterville, and the Cancun Mexican Restaurant II in Biddeford. The restaurants remain open, according to previously published reports.
If convicted, Hector Fuentes faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each charges.
The restaurant owners came to the attention of authorities in April 2008 after Westbrook police stopped several Hispanic men who worked at the Fajita Grill Mexican Restaurant in Westbrook but had no U.S. identification documents, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Portland. At least four illegal workers cooperated with authorities over the past several years and have continued to live and work in Maine.
Eight of the brothers’ workers, who are citizens of Mexico and Guatemala, also were arrested and charged with possessing fake documents. Three more restaurant workers, who have not been charged with crimes, reportedly were detained for alleged immigration violations.
Aliens!
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Lol love “Ancient Aliens.” Best hangover show ever!
At least these illegals were caught, but how come every time “illegal alien’s” are mentioned, they are found to be employed by restaurants which cater to the type of cuisine offered? We recently saw the Chinese and Vietnamese illegals were employed in local area “Chinese Restaurants”. There is a particular word the government and EEOC uses for this practice – but I forgot it. Anyway, these raids and uncovering of illegals have been taking place back well before I can remember, (that’s a long, long, time ago) and nothing has been done about it yet. You can keep arresting the illegals and the restaurant owner’s, and in a year or so, they all get back into their same old routine. But I think there is something more sinister going on. I think that these people who are illegals have drug-cartel and transportation links, as well as where other illegal alien’s can be harbored and housed permanently or temporarily. The influx of illegals nowadays is great due to Obama;s DreamAct law and now even Romney accepted it in principal but wants to revamp it. There is no justice it seems nor any way out for the innocent American public. Paying taxes is just a continuous problem as a lot of the money go to USAid to Mexico and also to support their illegals.
And sadly the food served isn’t even authentic it’s usually been Americantized.
You are correct. Chinese and Mexican foods are pre-prepared in large cities like here in New York City, as there are companies who prepare quick-frozen (let’s say for speaking of Mexican foods here) Mexican products your local Mexican restaurant has on the menu.
The restaurant just orders what is available from the distributor and if you notice – the food you order from the menu if you order the same thing twice is always exactly the same thing served. They “Americanize” it because it is highly expensive for a chef and kitchen staff to prepare from scratch the cuisine in their kitchens – and it takes much longer to get served at your table.
You can really tell the difference, because if you have ever eaten real “Tex-Mex” or “Cal-Mex” food prepared by real Mexican cooks, compared to the pre-prepared foods you get from distributors, to the “real thing”; there are worlds of differences in the two.
Actually I just eat at home, but good info.
We are “Whops”; Italian’s! It is nice to walk into any one of our numerous Italian restaurants we know of and get the original home recipes these families who owned restaurants back in the late 1800’s had, and up to now, a lot of them are still operating. It is because none of the food is prepared from plastic ingredients, quick-frozen condiments and measured-out and weighed-out crapola, and those hired, are proven to be (by checking) the validity of their status to be legally employed here in the United States. Does Bangor have any great Italian restaurants? I don’t know.
Olive Garden, LOL, and no not that I’m aware of
You should read some of the BDN headlines from the early 1900’s. Italians, Greeks, even Irish were “illegal aliens” and just nasty, lowlifes according to the media at the time. Doing basically the same thing. And just so you understand, GWB supported an immigration act circa 2008 that went far beyond the DREAM Act. Big biz needs the cheap labor.
One simple question? If they’re illegal…how did they get from there to here without the proper paperwork? Sounds like a freakin mob connection with fake passports…I don’t know…sick of it.
BDN. Illegal Aliens is so not PC. They are supposed to be called undocumented workers.
People need to brush up on their spelling: Italians, aliens, wops, etc. No apostrophes. And undocumented persons can get fake IDs through groups run in the US – not necessarily Hispanics, either. Remember – immigrants are not all one type, so some are looking to see the so-called gold-paved streets, while others are desperately hungry. They may be hungry because the multinationals take profits out of their countries ands pay them a pittance.
Along with all the Mexican Restaurants employing Illegal Criminal Aliens, ICE better start to bust the many Chinese Restaurants throughout Maine who also house and employ Illegal Criminal Aliens.
So what they were doing good work and helping the economy plus they are saving us taxes! you won’t see them claimimg food stamps or unemployment and that’smore money for us.