I've only been to the one in Alrington.... is the one in Wheaton owned by the same people?
Two defendants in El Pollo Rico case plead guilty
Two of four defendants indicted last year on charges of money
laundering and employing and harboring illegal aliens in connection
with a Wheaton chicken restaurant pleaded guilty Wednesday at the U.S.
District Courthouse in Greenbelt.
Consuelo Solano, 69, who owned the Peruvian chicken restaurant El Pollo
Rico on Ennalls Avenue with her brother and co-defendant Francisco
Solano, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and
faces a maximum of 20 years in a federal prison.
Another brother, Juan Faustino Solano, 59, a former manager at El Pollo
Rico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and
conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens. He faces a maximum of 30 years.
The other two defendants, Francisco Solano and his wife Ines
Hoyos-Solano, are still scheduled for trial Aug. 19 to face charges of
money laundering, conspiracy, illegal avoidance of currency reporting
requirements and employment of unauthorized immigrants, said Marcia
Murphy, a spokeswoman for the United States Attorney's Office for the
District of Maryland.
Prosecutors said the defendants employed illegal aliens and did not
list them on wage records supplied to the government. More than $7
million in proceeds from the restaurant was then transferred from an El
Pollo Rico business account to personal accounts, which were used to
pay for property, jewelry and cars, according to a news release from
the U.S. Attorney's Office of Maryland. Deposits to the business
account were kept under $10,000 so as not to trigger legal reporting
requirements.
According to the statement of facts read in court by Assistant U.S.
Attorney Stacy Belf, Juan Solano paid illegal aliens under the table to
work at El Pollo Rico from January 1999 to July 2007, also housing them
at residences he and the co-defendants owned.
As part of the agreement, Juan and Consuelo Solano will forfeit $7.2
million in assets gained from the illegal activity, including
properties in Wheaton, Kensington, Germantown and Silver Spring used to
harbor the workers. Consuelo Solano will also forfeit $2.1 million
seized in a search of her home in July 2007.
Juan Solano, a native of Peru, pleaded through an interpreter while
Consuelo Solano, also a native of Peru, pleaded on her own behalf.
Consuelo and Juan Solano are U.S. citizens and will not face
deportation. Both defendants will also face up to three years of
supervised release after serving their sentences and fines of up to
$500,000.
Both Consuelo and Juan Solano had originally pleaded not guilty to the
charges Aug. 7, 2007 after a raid in July 2007 by United States
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with assistance from
Montgomery County Police.
Consuelo Solano will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus
Sept, 24, while Juan Solano will be sentenced by Titus Sept. 29.