Palouse residents do not need to look outside Moscow to a rip-off allegedly religious group running a scam that has lasted for years, but with much bigger unfulfilled promises than a green card.<br><br><div id="mod-article-header" class="mod-sunsentarticleheader mod-articleheader">
<h1>Phony South Florida religious group defrauds $4 million from 1,400 immigrants</h1></div><div id="area-article-first-block" class="area"><div id="mod-article-image" style="float:right" class="mod-sunsentarticlepageimage mod-articlepageimage mod-articleimage">
<div id="mod-article-image-box" style="width:280px;height:200px"><ul class="main-image" style="width:280px;height:200px"><li style="width:280px;height:200px"><a id="mod-article-image-link" class="thickbox" target="_blank" href="http://www.trbimg.com/img-506f743f/turbine/sfl-immigration-fraud-20121005/600" title="Alberto Alers, 60, and Ana Zoila Caceres, 61, have pleaded guilty to charges related to an immigration fraud that operated out of a Plantation office. (BSO/Handout)"><img src="http://www.trbimg.com/img-506f743f/turbine/sfl-immigration-fraud-20121005/600" title="Alberto Alers, 60, and Ana Zoila Caceres, 61, have pleaded guilty to charges related to an immigration fraud that operated out of a Plantation office." alt="Alberto Alers, 60, and Ana Zoila Caceres, 61, have pleaded guilty to charges related to an immigration fraud that operated out of a Plantation office." style=" width:280px; height:156.5478424015px;"></a></li>
</ul></div><div class="main-image-info" style="width:275px">Alberto Alers, 60, and Ana Zoila Caceres, 61, have pleaded guilty to charges… (BSO/Handout )</div></div><div id="mod-article-byline" style="margin-right:280px" class="mod-sunsentarticlebyline mod-tribunearticlebylineimpl mod-articlebyline">
<span class="pubdate">October 5, 2012</span><span class="separator">|</span><span>By Paula McMahon, Sun Sentinel</span></div><div id="mod-a-body-first-para" style="margin-right:280px" class="mod-sunsentarticletext mod-articletext">
<p>Four South Floridians posed as representatives of a Christian organization to rip off $4 million from vulnerable immigrants.</p><p>Seamens
Harvest Ministries operated out of a storefront in a Plantation strip
mall, claiming to file so-called religious worker immigration
applications for undocumented residents in exchange for<b> </b>large cash "donations."</p><p>More than 1,400 victims thought they would wind up with coveted green cards that would allow them to work legally.</p>
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<p>The
defendants capitalized on immigrants' hopes by using religion to trick
them into believing the fraudsters had genuine intentions, prosecutors
said.</p><p>"The defendants lined their pockets for more than five
years, but not a single alien obtained their green card," prosecutor
Timothy Cole said.</p><p>All four defendants — Alberto Alers and his
wife, Ana Zoila Caceres, her son Jesus Manuel Dorado and office worker
Yvette Rossy Reyes — have pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud.</p><p>On
Friday, Dorado, 27, was sentenced to five years in federal prison.
Prosecutors will seek more than $1 million in restitution from him at a
future court hearing. His three codefendants will be sentenced in the
next few weeks.</p><p>Alers, 60, was the primary salesman who pitched
the fraud to the clients, who had either entered or remained in the
country illegally, according to court records. He was also the enforcer
who threated clients if they complained about not receiving a green
card.</p><p>He pretended to be a deportation officer and kept a badge,
gun and handcuffs visible in his office during meetings with clients and
threatened to have numerous people deported.</p><p>Caceres, 61, was
"the brains of the operation" who handled the finances and recruited
staff, including her son, Dorado, a salesman who was often referred to
as "the attorney", and Reyes, 24, an office worker.</p><p>Alers, Caceres
and Dorado often went to a local casino "to gamble the money (often in
amounts exceeding $10,000) extracted from the victims," prosecutors
wrote.</p><p>Victims said they were told the "ministry" was a Christian
charitable group that could help them get legal status to remain in the
country. The organization filed forms that claimed the applicants were
religious workers who had done missionary jobs for years and wanted to
remain in the United States. The group also claimed to do work on behalf
of needy people in South America and the Caribbean.</p><p>Alers
admitted that he told clients they would have to donate $6,860 to the
group and pay other application fees. He also taught customers how to
fraudulently obtain Florida driver's licenses to help them appear to be
legitimate residents.</p></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-first-para-ad-cpc" class="mod-adcpc">
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<p>When
the office received hundreds of notices from federal authorities
rejecting the religious applications, the workers changed methods and
began submitting fraudulent asylum applications and other immigration
requests.</p><p>Prosecutors said the scam was particularly unsavory
because it preyed on vulnerable people who worked hard in menial jobs to
earn the money that was taken from them.</p><p>One South Florida couple
who wrote to the sentencing judge said that a friend referred them to
Seamens Harvest and they believed it was legitimate. Albert Aga and Eva
Celari said Dorado told them it would cost $25,000 to file applications
for their family. They borrowed money to make payments and Celari
received what she thought was a genuine employment authorization card.</p><p>Within
a year, the couple and their two children were taken into custody by
immigration agents who told them the card was fake. Aga was locked up
for a month. Dorado refused to help and the couple has hired an
immigration lawyer to try to gain legal status.</p><p>"We have suffered
great financial loss, emotional and mental stress, embarrassment and
hurt at the hands of Seamens Harvest Ministries and our children were
fearful that they would be taken from us," Aga and Celari wrote.</p><p>Dorado,
who got a reduced sentence because he cooperated against his mother and
stepfather, sobbed in court after apologizing. He said he was "sorry
and ashamed" of his actions.</p><p>His lawyer, Alvin Entin, said Dorado
left the criminal conspiracy two years before the suspects were arrested
last year, distanced himself from the misconduct and started a
legitimate business. When undercover agents taped conversations with him
at his new business, they found he was acting legally, Entin said.</p><p>U.S.
District Judge Robert Scola Jr. also ordered Dorado to surrender to
immigration authorities for deportation upon his release from prison.
But Dorado has renounced his Venezuelan citizenship and assumed his
father's Cuban citizenship, according to court records, which could
allow him to remain here because Cuban citizens who make it to the U.S.
are not deported to their homeland.</p><p><i><a href="mailto:pmcmahon@tribune.com">pmcmahon@tribune.com</a>, 954-356-4533 or Twitter@SentinelPaula</i></p></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>
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