Illegal Esposito workers arrested on identity theft charges
By Julian Pecquet • DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER • March 8, 2008
Eleven illegal immigrants who worked for the Esposito Garden Center have been arrested on charges of identity theft, said Brannon Jordan, a spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Financial Services.
The immigrants were arrested Wednesday at Esposito Garden Center in Tallahassee and its nursery in Havana, Jordan said. They were charged with supplying fraudulent Social Security numbers to obtain employment, a third-degree felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Managers at Esposito Garden Center did not return a call for comment on Friday.
Jordan said the investigation stemmed from a case of missing plants from the garden center, located at 2743 Capital Circle N.E. Suspecting that illegal immigrants were working at the center, investigators with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services contacted their counterparts with the Department of Financial Services' Division of Insurance Fraud.
Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said her agency assisted in the investigation. Jordan said the Leon County Sheriff's Office and the Tallahassee Police Department also assisted.
Jordan said the Esposito Garden Center cooperated with the investigation and turned over their employees' personnel records, including names and Social Security numbers. Investigators then ran the Social Security numbers by the U.S. Social Security Administration, which confirmed that they did not match up with the employees' names. The people arrested are: Juan Collazo, Jose Hernandez, Juan Gomez, Lucia Gomez, Pedro Gomez, Renaldo Gomez, Guillermo Gonzalez, Maria Varga, Rosendo Hernandez, Yoni Hernandez and Sofia Perez.
Five are being held in the Leon County Jail, Jordan said, while the others are in the Gadsden County Jail.
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