Attorney: Man built wealth employing workers illegally
A Bartow County framing company owner who federal prosecutors said amassed properties, high end cars and firearms by employing and harboring people who were in the country illegally, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court.
According to Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine and information presented in court:
Juan Antonio Perez built his company, Aztec Framing, beginning in 2009 by using cheap labor provided by immigrants in the country illegally. Perez himself entered the country illegally in 1992.
The company had business offices in Cartersville, Rossville and Hixon, Tennessee, a criminal complaint filed in the case stated.
As part of doing business, Perez employed people in the U.S. illegally at belowmarket rates, provided no benefits or insurance, and did not pay payroll taxes or Social Security.
Reaping the benefits of the practice, Perez built a walled and gated 7,500-square-foot house on Folsom Glade Road in Rydal and bought other houses where he allowed some of his employees to live.
One of those homes, which he called his “toy house,” on Boulder Road in Kingston, held more than 30 sports cars and heavily customized trucks — including several Porsches and a Nissan GTR. Perez also collected firearms, and agents located 14 firearms when his home was searched on April 30, 2019.
At the same time, prosecutors say, the Georgia Department of Labor has no record of Perez reporting any income.
“Perez endangered the livelihood of those who follow the laws governing employment, as well as the lives of those who attempt to illegally enter the United States seeking jobs like those he provided,” Erskine said. “Perez used illegal workers for his own personal financial gain without regard for the laws of this country.”
Perez, 48, pleaded guilty on July 7 to knowingly encouraging and inducing aliens to come to, enter, and reside in the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, and residence in the United States was in violation of law.
“The old saying that crime doesn’t pay couldn’t be truer than in this instance. Perez thought his scheme to exploit desperate people looking for work and a better life would go unnoticed, but he was wrong and will now be held accountable,” Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger said.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 5 at 10 a.m.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the BartowCartersville Drug Task Force, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad, and the Polk County Drug Task Force.