MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A Morgantown custom home builder is facing numerous federal charges after using fake employment information for illegal immigrants he was smuggling from central America to work at his business.
On MetroNews “Talkline,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia Bill Ihlenfeld said Hetzon (Hector) Marroquin Reyes, 40, operated A & M Homes, LLC, since 2015 and got the attention of authorities when he provided false information to his accountant to address an allegation from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The agency was preparing to fine Reyes $15,000 for using “incorrect” social security numbers when he provided the fraudulent employee information to his accountant.
Reyes is charged with one count of conspiracy to harbor aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain, 32 counts of false representations regarding social security numbers, one count of corrupt interference with due administration of tax code, and one count of fraud related to visas and other documents.
“This guy was pretty bold,” Ihlenfeld said. “I don’t think many people are just going to flat-out lie to the IRS, especially after they identify an issue, and that’s exactly what he did.”
The workers Reyes sought were from a community in Guatemala he had ties to, Honduras, and as the investigation continues, more countries could be identified. Ihlenfeld said Reyes enriched himself by paying low wages to the illegal workers instead of recruiting local workers that are already being paid competitive wages.
“It’s somewhere between 50 and 80 folks who were illegal and brought to the United States to help him operate his business,” Ihlenfeld said. “He did it to save money.”
It’s not known how the illegal immigrants were transported to the area, but once in Morgantown they were indebted to Reyes and were required to work. When Reyes was taken into custody, police reported Reyes was working on additional fake employee identification information.
“So, whether he paid $5,000, $10,000, or in one instance $19,000, once they were here because he paid to get them here, they had to work off their debt,” Ihlenfeld said. “He put them to work building homes in the Morgantown area.”
So far the investigation has shown Reyes operated a sophisticated scheme and attempted to lie at any level and use the false information to continue the enterprise.
Ihlenfeld made it clear that this is a gross exception and not the rule when it comes to businesses like home building.
“When they would show up on the worksite, he would be prepared with false documentation,” Ihlenfeld said. “He wasn’t afraid to give false information to his accountant to misrepresent the status of his workers to the IRS.”
Part of the sophistication of the scheme were the documents he used up until the time of his arrest. Ihlenfeld said this case is a signal to all agencies monitoring labor practices for the need to focus on the details regardless of who the employer is.
We need to always verify,” Ihlenfeld said. “Whether you’re with the West Division of Labor, the IRS, or the Department of Homeland Security, that’s what we did here, and we came upon something that was very sophisticated.”
Reyes has been arraigned and is free on a personal recognizance bond.