Carol Hill pleaded guilty in an agreement in June to a felony for conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens for profit and a felony for knowingly hiring at least 10 illegal aliens within a 12-month period.
Judge Raner Collins sentenced her to two months in prison and 12 months in home detention. She will start serving her term on Feb. 3. She will be on supervised release for three years. She must complete 500 hours of community service and pay a $10,000 fine.
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Seven other people were charged in this case, including the business’ president, Ivan Hardt, as well as Efrain Silvain Avechuco, Edward Durgin, Joaquin Neave, Santiago Trejo Ramirez, Omar Reyes and Jose Gutierrez Tapia.
According to a court filing regarding Hill’s sentencing memo, her conduct in this case was “extensive and flagrant.” She was an integral part in the conspiracy, and she is one of the most culpable defendants in the case.
“She helped Hardt conceal unauthorized illegal alien workers from ICE agents, wrote fraudulent letters to federal authorities to assist illegal aliens to obtain legal status in the United States, and continued to allow illegal aliens to be employed at Sun Drywall and Stucco for nearly two years after the initial Forms I-9 inspection in late 2005,” says the document.
She admitted she received at least two “no match” letters from the Social Security Administration in 2005 and 2006, but did not take any remedial measures to fix the problem. And she allowed unauthorized workers to assume the identity of others and/or change other identifying information, such as Social Security numbers, according to the document.
Munish Sharda, assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona in Tucson, asked for a sentence that provides just punishment, deters others from this conduct and promotes respect for the law. He suggested sentencing her to six months in prison and six months of house arrest, and fining her $20,000.
Michael Bloom, the defense attorney who represented Hill, pointed out the offenses took place during the real estate boom when the company had an inexhaustible demand for its services. While Hill did not make decisions to hire workers, she did fill out the necessary paperwork.
“There is no question she did wrong,” he said.
But Bloom asked the judge to sentence her to probation because she is not a danger to the community and incarcerating her would cause a hardship for her daughter and granddaughter. He also said a $20,000 fine would be excessive.
Hill told the court that she is “remorseful” for her actions.
The judge said he realizes Hill was not the “mastermind” of the crime. But he said he was unable to simply give her probation and that some amount of time in custody was appropriate.
He reminded Hill about the case of businesswoman Martha Stewart, who went to prison in 2004. He pointed out Stewart was not punished for the crime of insider trading.
Rather, the judge said, Stewart was punished for lying to investigators. Raner said Hill acted in a similar fashion. In 2005, when the authorities conducted Form I-9 inspection at Sun Drywall, she also lied.
Herald/Review reporter Jonathon Shacat can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathon.shacat@bisbeereview.net.
