18 Charged in Sting Targeting Immigrant Fraud

Launching a sting operation against the growing crime of immigration fraud, City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo announced Tuesday that he has filed criminal cases against 18 immigration consultants for crimes including misrepresenting themselves as attorneys.

During its initial five-month investigation the immigration fraud strike force targeted consultants in Pico-Union who specialize in assisting people from Spanish-speaking countries, including Mexico and El Salvador. Future operations will go after firms doing business in Korean, Chinese and Japanese communities as well, Delgadillo said.

“This new strike force will investigate and prosecute individuals and businesses that take advantage of immigrants who don’t know how the system works,” Delgadillo said.

“When someone wants to go through the process of becoming a citizen of the United States legally, he or she shouldn’t be subjected to illegal and fraudulent practices along the way,” Delgadillo said.

The city’s top prosecutor said he launched the crackdown after hearing of cases in which people paid as much as $5,000 for legal help from consultants who promised assistance in getting green cards and other immigration papers, but sometimes the victims got no more than a worthless piece of notarized paper.

A significant majority of immigration cases handled by the nonprofit group Public Counsel involve repairing damage done by improperly operating notary fraud businesses, according to Raquel Fonte, a staff attorney for the organization. In some cases, people who have a legal case to stay in the country end up being deported because of bad advice or help from unethical consultants.

The sting involving three investigators from the city attorney’s office used undercover video and audio surveillance to build the cases, 12 of which were around MacArthur Park.

The misdemeanor charges filed with the court Monday and announced Tuesday include unlawful practice of law, failure to post immigration bond, failure to post immigration notice, failure to display a sign that the consultant is not an attorney and making a statement that a consultant can obtain special favors from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The latter charge was among those filed against Roberto Mauricio Rivas, who operates Agencia Salvadorena on West 8th Street.

In addition to saying that he could secure special favors from the INS, Rivas allegedly accepted and cashed three checks for $1,000 each made payable to the INS, and he improperly provided legal advice.

In another case, the city alleges that Haydee Giron-Sanchez posed as an attorney. A sign outside her office on Wilshire Boulevard indicated that it was a law office.

Another person charged, Cristo Jose Dubon, allegedly provided an undercover investigator with “inaccurate immigration information and unethical advice regarding the INS,” the city said.

Dubon was charged with three misdemeanors: providing legal advice while acting as an immigration consultant, failure to post immigration bond and failure to display a sign that the consultant is not an attorney.