Businesses beware, the federal government is coming for you if you hire illegal aliens!
Contractor Robert Pratt was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for hiring illegal aliens to work for his company in the home building industry. This dirtbag used the illegal alien labor for cheap workers and to avoid paying payroll taxes like unemployment. He was quickly picked up by county authorities upon sentencing for not paying these taxes.
Robert Pratt, who lives in Florence, Tennessee, ran Progressive Builders and Pratt’s Quality Construction in Florence, Kentucky. Pratt's businesses supplied framing and drywall crews for homebuilder Fischer Homes.
"I never intended to get anyone in trouble, ... I never thought it was that big a deal ... when I was doing it."
- Contractor and criminal employer Robert Pratt
The judge also chastised Pratt for hiring illegal aliens instead of US workers and therefore putting legitimate businesses at a disadvantage.
Others sentenced:
Howard Pratt, Robert Pratt's son, was sentenced to 12 months and a day.
Jacqueline Pratt-Medina, Robert Pratt's daughter, was sentenced to 6 months house arrest and 3 years probation for her part in the business.
Leopoldo Medina, Jacqueline Pratt-Medina's husband and an illegal alien, received five months in prison for hiring illegal aliens.
Alfredo Medina-Mejia, Jacqueline Pratt-Medina's brother-in-law and an illegal alien, received five months in prison for hiring illegal aliens.
Luciano Salazar, crew chief at Pratt's company, received a five-month prison sentence.
Ruben Trejo, a naturalized American citizen, was sentenced to 6 months with an ankle bracelet and six years probation
Jose Trejo-Soto, Ruben Trejo's son and an illegal alien who was previously deported, received a sentence of 12 months and one day for recruiting illegal aliens in Mexico.
Cincinnati Post
U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Pratt during the hearing that his role in organizing, paying, housing and transporting the illegal workers to their jobs called for a substantial sentence. Pratt not only used his cultural connections to Mexican workers to take advantage of them - he is bilingual and of Mexican descent - but he used his own children to set up and run some of his companies, Bunning said.
Pratt also betrayed his fellow countrymen in the United States by using the illegal immigrants, a cheap source of labor that denies better paying jobs to those here legally and puts honest businesses at a competitive disadvantage, said Bunning.
The Enquirer
Robert Pratt thought he was free until he had to begin serving his 1½-year sentence on Jan. 7 for using illegal labor. Instead, deputies hauled him off to the Boone County jail on a charge he had not paid workers’ compensation assessments to Kentucky.
...
Pratt set up front companies in his children’s names that knowingly used illegal immigrants, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBride said. Some of the construction companies operated by the family included Pratt Quality Construction, Progressive Builders Inc., HPF Inc. and HJP Construction Inc.
I hope we see more of this throughout the country. A few unscrupulous business owners and employers behind bars will teach these dirtbag businesses that they need to hire legal workers and stop employing slave labor, evading taxes and putting legitimate businesses out of work.
Also think about this, if these building contractors will ignore federal laws pertaining to hiring illegal aliens and paying taxes, imagine what building code laws and permits they are also ignoring in order to save a buck.
And yes I do hope they all have a very hard time in prison.
Tipped by: Immigration Watchdog
