Neftali Lopez Press Release (Sentencing)

January 6, 2009
For Immediate Release

KIRKSVILLE EL VAQUERO RESTAURANT MANAGER SENTENCED FOR SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD

St. Louis, MO: The co-owner and manager of a Kirksville restaurant was sentenced to eleven months in prison on charges of social security fraud, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced today.

“Mr. Lopez was involved in a conspiracy to use fraudulent social security numbers for the employment of undocumented workers at the El Vaquero Restaurant,” said Hanaway.

Between June 2004 and March 2008, Neftali Lopez hired individuals, including his brother-in-law, Jesus Villalba Pedrosa, to work in a restaurant he co-owned and managed in Kirksville, knowing they had entered the United States without authorization. Neftali Lopez instructed employees to obtain false social security cards and resident alien cards, and provided information about distributors of these false cards. Even after receiving letters from the Social Security Administration over a six-year period advising him that the social security numbers being used by more than 70 of his employees were incorrect, Mr. Lopez continued to employ the undocumented workers.

NEFTALI LOPEZ, Kirksville, Missouri, was sentenced to eleven months in prison. He pled guilty in October 2008 to one felony count of social security fraud and appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Charles A. Shaw.

Hanaway commended the work performed on the case by the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General, Postal Inspection Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, the Adair County Sheriff’s Department, the Kirksville Police Department and Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Berry, who is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI CATHERINE L. HANAWAY United States Attorney	NEWS RELEASE
For further information: Call Public Affairs Officer Jan Diltz at (314) 539-7719
January 6, 2009 For Immediate Release KIRKSVILLE EL VAQUERO RESTAURANT MANAGER SENTENCED FOR SOCIAL SECURITY FRAUD St. Louis, MO: The co-owner and manager of a Kirksville restaurant was sentenced to eleven months in prison on charges of social security fraud, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced today. “Mr. Lopez was involved in a conspiracy to use fraudulent social security numbers for the employment of undocumented workers at the El Vaquero Restaurant,” said Hanaway. Between June 2004 and March 2008, Neftali Lopez hired individuals, including his brother-in-law, Jesus Villalba Pedrosa, to work in a restaurant he co-owned and managed in Kirksville, knowing they had entered the United States without authorization. Neftali Lopez instructed employees to obtain false social security cards and resident alien cards, and provided information about distributors of these false cards. Even after receiving letters from the Social Security Administration over a six-year period advising him that the social security numbers being used by more than 70 of his employees were incorrect, Mr. Lopez continued to employ the undocumented workers. NEFTALI LOPEZ, Kirksville, Missouri, was sentenced to eleven months in prison. He pled guilty in October 2008 to one felony count of social security fraud and appeared today for sentencing before United States District Judge Charles A. Shaw. Hanaway commended the work performed on the case by the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General, Postal Inspection Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, the Adair County Sheriff’s Department, the Kirksville Police Department and Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Berry, who is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.