5 Plead Guilty In Massive Nurse Smuggling Scheme Filipinos Paid To Get False Papers, Work For Low Wages At Facilities In 35 States
Five people pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally smuggling hundreds of registered nurses from the Philippines to convalescent homes and other medical facilities in 35 states.
The nurses paid up to $7,000 each to recruiters who helped them get fraudulent visas, then toiled for substandard wages - as little as $5 an hour - and often camped in dirty, crowded apartments upon first arriving in the United States, officials said.
Officials said the smuggling ring, based in Lubbock, Texas, is the largest of its kind ever discovered, and that it signals an increasing sophistication by those flouting U.S. immigration laws.
“We have never found a case of this magnitude,” U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins said after the guilty pleas were entered in U.S. District Court in Lubbock.
“This is, without a doubt, one of the largest - if not the largest - visa-fraud scheme ever seen in this country,” said Lynn Ligon of the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Dallas district. Smuggling “increases more and more all the time as people from all over the world try to get to the United States any way they can.”
The investigation was the second major sting of an alleged smuggling operation in as many months. In December, nine people were indicted on charges of bringing workers from central Mexico to work in a Georgia T-shirt factory.
In the new case, Lubbock resident Billy Denver Jewell, 54, who owns 22 nursing homes, was paid more than $500,000 for obtaining about 570 illegal visas, officials said. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to launder money, wire fraud and aiding and abetting.
Others snared in the federal bust, and who pleaded guilty Wednesday, include Holly Arthur “Estie” Estreller, 46, who runs the Nurses Exchange of America in Los Angeles, and Sidney and Veronica Hewitt of San Diego’s S&V Health Care; together, the three recruited at least 50 illegal nurses, according to court records. Estreller and Sidney Hewitt, 45, each face up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for charges against them; Veronica Hewitt, 46, faces up to six months in prison.
Haesook “Clara” Kim, 48, of Wayne, N.J., also pleaded guilty to charges related to the smuggling and could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Still at large is Nelson Alomajim Sin, 51, of Sugar Land, Texas, who faces a 274-count indictment including conspiracy, moneylaundering and fraud.
Joe Heflin, Sidney Hewitt’s lawyer, said his client did not know that Jewell, whom he never met, was filing fraudulent documents.
“He didn’t pay careful attention. Any time you’re dealing with immigration documents, everything has to be just perfect,” Heflin said. “He’s out of business now. He’s filed a bankruptcy. He’s looking for work.”