Restaurant owner to be jailed, deported
Man sentenced for harboring illegal immigrants
TOLEDO -- A man who owned a chain of Mexican restaurants around northern Ohio will serve a year in prison before being deported after admitting to harboring illegal immigrants, a federal judge ruled Monday. Ramon Ornelas, who owned Casa Fiesta restaurants in Norwalk, Fremont, Ashland and five other locations, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Toledo to one year on each of 18 charges, to be served at the same time, according to case minutes released Monday. The 42-year-old Norwalk resident, who pleaded guilty Feb. 24, also must pay the court $1,800 -- $100 on each count, Judge Jack Zouhary ruled.
Ornelas admitted employing undocumented Mexican workers at his restaurants, paying them cash without withholding taxes and sometimes providing them with places to live, according to U.S. District Court records. Federal authorities raided his eateries in July 2008 and arrested 58 illegal workers, including seven at the Fremont Casa Fiesta.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Khaalid Walls said all of those detained have either been deported or will be.
Ornelas also owned Casa Fiestas in Youngstown, Vermillion, Oberlin, Oregon and Sandusky.
Federal prosecutor David Bauer and Ornelas' attorney, W. Jeffrey Moore of Columbus, were not available for comment after Monday's hearing.
Moore argued for probation in a sentencing memo filed Thursday, saying his client already had suffered "more than the average family" from his prosecution and sentencing.
"Mr. Ornelas has had to sell all his restaurants but one," his attorney wrote. "He has to face community ridicule."
Moore said Ornelas' wife and American-born children also will be deported to Mexico.
The defense attorney said Ornelas had a "minimal criminal history" that includes two drunk driving convictions.
He cited his client's sixth-grade education, saying that in spite of it, Ornelas "has worked tirelessly to do better and be better."
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