Another Nursing Home Scam in the US

[pinoy_guy]

colleagues,

i came across this news article, and thought we should be aware that this is happening.

this might be what some agencies (pushing for h1 visas) are doing.

3 pinoys arrested in la for alleged human smuggling

[color=dimgray]04/05/2008 | 03:58 am

los angeles--authorities say the leaders of a human smuggling operation have been arrested on suspicion of bringing fake taekwondo athletes from the philippines.

agents from the fbi and immigration and customs enforcement on thursday announced the arrests of three filipinos on suspicion of smuggling workers into the us.

authorities say philippine nationals rodolfo deafeliz and assistant rolleta riazon were caught as they prepared to board a flight to manila. evelyn pelayo who owns three nursing homes was also arrested.

the six filipinos who were "smuggled" say they were forced to work at two long beach nursing homes.

a court affidavit filed thursday alleged that pelayo had recruited the workers promising them legitimate employment at her board-and-care facilities.

according to officials, deafeliz, a taekwondo instructor, then would designate the recruits his "students" who were traveling to the united states to participate in martial arts competitions, an article on los angeles times said thursday.

the report said that deafeliz taught the conscripts just enough taekwondo moves and terminology to fool immigration officials. officials said the recruits were taken to long beach and put on 24-hour duty at the homes for the elderly.

the suspects seized the passports of the workers and threatened the victims with arrest and deportation if they ran away, the affidavit said.

moreover, the suspects had instructed the workers not to talk with families of the elderly they were caring for and to lie about their work hours and working conditions if local and state inspectors who periodically visit nursing facilities asked them.

authorities closed two board-and-care houses owned by pelayo thursday morning after search warrants were executed at both sites.

this is concise reporting, and i hope the mods will allow the entire article to be posted.

be careful, kababayans.

a lot of predators are taking advantage...and sadly, a lot of them are fellow filipinos.

[suzanne4, RN]

Thank you for posting this. It just reconfirms what I have been stating all along. And once again, the worst abusers of nurses are those that are actually from the Philippines and will selll their parents if they could make a dime from it.Through the years I have heard such horror stories that your skin would crawl. I do hope that this person that owns these facilities gets significant jail time, it would serve her and for the crummy things that she has done to those under her care.Shame on her, she truly belongs in the Hall of Shame here and I do hope that she gets what is coming to her. She deserves every bit of it, and when she is done with her sentence, then she needs to be deported from the US for her behavior and never permitted to return. Do hope that she looses her property as well. Sorry, but what she has done is thoroughly disgusting.

[g_l]

it's so sad and INFURIATING to think that we filipinos harm our fellow filipinos so that we earn to prosper our families and cronies. the food that their kids live on is earned by the tears and suffering of their kabayan(fellow filipino)

[lawrence01]

To keep things well-rounded.... the alleged persons that were "smuggled" played along and pretended to be something they are not. In short, they lied to immigration officers as well and they went along with those arrested and worked as whatever on those nursing homes, w/c of course is illegal since they stated something else to the immigration officers. They know what they were doing. This is not a case of one fooling the other but their scheme being caught by the authorities.

[suzanne4, RN]

Remember that they also came here to work illegally since one coming here to do some exhibitions or training does not get a SSN# since they do not have a visa to work.

They knew what they were doing, but this shady person tried to get them to work for her illegally and they all got caught.

And they came here on fraudulent information that was given to immigration officials to get the visa, this is the same thing that will happen to those that have gone thru the LPN programs in the Philippines. No matter what any employer tells you, there are no visas for the LPN to come to the US to work legally, and any that come under a visa that is not approved of for that, is subject to being deported.

[boot_unit]

Thank you for posting this. It just reconfirms what I have been stating all along. And once again, the worst abusers of nurses are those that are actually from the Philippines and will selll their parents if they could make a dime from it.Through the years I have heard such horror stories that your skin would crawl. I do hope that this person that owns these facilities gets significant jail time, it would serve her and for the crummy things that she has done to those under her care.Shame on her, she truly belongs in the Hall of Shame here and I do hope that she gets what is coming to her. She deserves every bit of it, and when she is done with her sentence, then she needs to be deported from the US for her behavior and never permitted to return. Do hope that she looses her property as well. Sorry, but what she has done is thoroughly disgusting.

good idea maybe you could put Hall Of Shame thread here and stickied it LoL:lol2:

[pinoy_guy]

woman indicted for smuggling filipinos into the us

[color=dimgray]06/07/2008

a nursing home owner in california has been indicted on federal human trafficking charges that include allegations she and three others conspired to bring six filipinos to the united states and forced them to work long hours at two of her facilities.

evelyn pelayo, 51, of long beach was accused of recruiting workers in the philippines with the promise of employment upon arrival . . .

once they agreed, pelayo contacted two philippine nationals, both of them martial arts instructor, to arrange for the victims to enter the united states by falsely claiming they were participating in taekwondo tournaments, prosecutors said.

when they arrived in the country, the six never participated in any tournament. instead, they were forced to work nearly 24 hours a day, everyday, and had half of their salaries withheld to "repay" the smuggling fees, prosecutors said.

pelayo was accused of taking away the victims' passports and threatening to report them to immigration officials if they tried to leave, according to the indictment.

"the defendants ... are alleged to have lured foreign nationals to the us with promises of employment and a better quality of life, then turned a profit by overworking and threatening victims repeatedly," salvador hernandez, assistant director in charge of the fbi in los angeles, said.

pelayo was charged with aiding and abetting, harboring illegal aliens, forced labor, human trafficking and conspiracy. she faces up to 140 years in federal prison if convicted of all counts.

also named in the indictment were her husband, darwin padolina, 56, and philippine nationals rodolfo demafeliz, 39, and rolleta riazon, 28.

they were each charged with conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens and each faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

just a friendly reminder to be careful whom you trust...

and if any of these people are involved in processing your papers...i suggest you find another agency.