Local News in Brief : No Contest Plea Entered

Sidney Ross, former president and chief executive officer of the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Corp., pleaded no contest Thursday to five misdemeanor counts of improperly operating an immigration amnesty consulting business. Ross, 44, was placed on 30 months probation by Municipal Court Commissioner Barry Kohn and ordered to pay more than $10,000 in fines, investigative fees and charitable contributions.

His downtown Los Angeles immigration business, El Norte Corp., one of the state’s largest amnesty advice providers, also was put on probation after pleading no contest to eight counts, including one of giving misleading information to customers. The other counts to which Ross and his company entered pleas involved failure to provide clients with contracts.

According to the city attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, some of El Norte’s clients paid on the installment plan but never were told that their amnesty applications would not be filed with the government until the final payment was made. Some clients thought their applications had been filed months ago and were unaware of the delay until after charges were filed. The deadline for filing amnesty applications is May 4.

Ross of Hollywood and his company originally were charged with 63 criminal business practices in a misdemeanor complaint filed by the city attorney’s office Dec. 17.