By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(© 2009 Journal Group Link International)

C HICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – A 43-year-old Filipina was sentenced Monday (Nov. 30) to a two-year probation after pleading guilty to two counts of employing aliens not authorized to work in the United States.

Judge David O. Carter of the U.S. District Court of Central District of California in Los Angeles also ordered Gicela “Gigi” Guevarra Sarabia to report to the Probation Officer within 72 hours after her sentencing.

Ms. Sarabia, manager of A-Plus Senior Planning Services, Inc., a health care agency that provided domestic care services in Orange County, avoided six-months imprisonment and $129,000 fine for the 43 unauthorized aliens she hired on behalf of the company.

According to the indictment, Sarabia could have drawn a fine of $3,000 for hiring each illegal alien.

The defendant started recruiting aliens, who were unauthorized to work, from January 2005 to Aug. 6, 2008 in Orange County.

She was indicted along with Maria Teresa Lamayo Ngo, 49, and husband Wilfredo Tiongco Ngo, 51, who co-owned A-Plus.

Sentencing hearing for the Ngos is slated on Jan. 25, 2010.

The Ngo couple faces 250 years in prison and a fine of $10,750,000 or “twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offenses, which ever is greatest” after changing their plea to “guilty to Count 1 of the indictment” for allegedly knowingly hiring the services of illegal aliens, mostly from the Philippines.

Maria Teresa Lamayo Ngo signed a plea agreement on April 13, 2009 while her husband, Wilfredo Tiongco Ngo, signed a plea agreement on April 28, 2009.

The Ngo couple was charged with a four-count indictment returned in August last year, charging them with inducing aliens to reside in the United States; knowingly employing illegal aliens; knowingly harboring illegal aliens; and counseling persons to engage in marriage fraud.

Ms. Sarabia was charged with inducing aliens to reside in the US and knowingly hiring illegal aliens.

A-Plus Senior Planning Services is a private health-care agency that provides basic care to the elderly in assisted-living facilities. It has 200 employes, half of them are undocumented.

The agency was originally named Better Care Solutions. When the company was audited, it changed its name to A-Plus Senior Planning Services.

When they were arraigned by US Magistrate Judge Marc L. Goldman on August 25, 2008, the Ngos and Sarabia pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

The plea agreements were agreed upon and accepted by Mieke I. Biesheuvel, Assistant U.S. Attorney on behalf of Thomas P. O’Brien, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, and Robert A. Van Hoy, counsel for defendant Maria Teresa Lamayo Ngo, and Mark W. Fredrick, counsel for Wilfredo Tiongco Ngo. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)

© opyright 2009 The Journal Group Link International. The contents provided in the JGLi may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of the Journal Group Link International.

(Editor’s Note: Watch out for the upcoming outlet-oriented, subscription-based website of Journal Group Link International that guarantees originally sourced stories, features, photos, audios and videos and multi-media contents.)