News

Plainfield probe snares two in scheme to defraud illegal immigrants

Published January 13, 2010

LAINFIELD — A former pastor with the city’s Salvation Army chapter is facing a long list of charges after authorities say a nearly four-year investigation revealed that he coordinated a massive scheme to defraud more than a dozen local immigrants of tens of thousands of dollars with false promises of helping them acquire a U.S. Permanent Resident Card, known colloquially as a “green card.’‘

Enoc Tito Sotelo, 50, of Kinston, N.C., was arrested Tuesday after a grand jury indicted him on 14 counts of third-degree theft by deception, charges that could net him up to 70 years in prison. Sotelo, who allegedly used his position in the Salvation Army to manipulate victims, posted 10 percent of his $20,000 bail and was released after surrendering his passport, according to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.

Also charged in the alleged scheme is Denise Gallo of Miami, who faces eight charges of third-degree theft by deception. Union County Assistant Prosecutor Ann Rubin, who is handling the case, said Tuesday that authorities are continuing to attempt to find Gallo.

PROMISES UNKEPT

According to the investigation, Sotelo told an unknown number of alleged victims that he was working with a Florida-based attorney named Oscar Ruiz who could help them obtain legal U.S. documentation. Rubin said the alleged victims primarily lived in North Plainfield and Plainfield, and many were members of Sotelo’s Salvation Army congregation.

Sotelo allegedly collected between $4,000 and $5,000 in cash and/or property from each person seeking documentation, purportedly to pay for travel to and from Florida and to obtain the documents. The investigation also revealed that Sotelo told the alleged victims that $500 from each payment would go to the Salvation Army, but the organization disputes that it ever received those payments, according to the prosecutor’s office.

According to Rubin, Sotelo set up applications for National Interest Waivers, which are documents through which the federal government allows immigrants into the country for possessing “unusual or remarkable skills’’ that might “uniquely benefit the country.’‘

“You get a receipt for filing a document like this online,’’ Rubin explained. “He would make a big deal of it at sermons, presenting it like they (alleged victims) had just won a prize ... when it was no more than a receipt.’‘

None of the alleged victims ever received green cards, according to the prosecutor’s office, because none of them qualified for National Interest Waivers. The investigation also revealed that Ruiz was never an attorney and had been under a cease-and-desist order from the Florida Bar Association since 1999, barring him from performing any immigration-related work for anyone.

Sotelo allegedly collected money from local immigrants between June and December 2005, although Rubin said the investigation led her to believe the activity probably started in 2004. The statute of limitations on such crimes, she explained, is five years. Sotelo was fired from his post with the Salvation Army in May 2006 after a regional division of the organization completed an internal investigation — spurred, according to a news release issued by the division at the time, by published articles in El Diaro La Prensa, a Spanish-language news publication — and Rubin said a lawsuit filed against Sotelo by alleged victims that year was dismissed when they failed to cooperate, citing fears of deportation.

The alleged fraud first was uncovered when a number of alleged victims complained to local Hispanic community activists, who relayed their concerns to police. Plainfield Police Detective Edwin Maldonado, who handled the local investigation, in particular cited Flor Gonzalez, director of the city’s Latin American Coalition, a Hispanic-rights nonprofit group.

“This investigation would not have been successful without her,’’ Maldonado said Monday. “She located victims, spoke to us, even met with us (and alleged victims) at her office to break the ice.’‘

STEPPING FORWARD

Rubin said 16 alleged victims have agreed to cooperate with the investigation by delivering statements or testifying in court. But Maldonado — a city native of Puerto Rican heritage who coincidentally grew up in a home on the corner of Watchung Avenue and East Fifth Street, exactly one block south of police headquarters and one block north of the Salvation Army — said he believes the alleged scheme likely affected 75 to 100 people, many of whom remain afraid to come forward.

“That’s entirely possible,’’ Rubin said when asked about the estimate.

Maldonado, displaying on his desk a 5-inch binder and an even larger portable case file he said were devoted solely to documenting Sotelo’s alleged activities, said the case marks the largest of its kind he has worked on during 11 years with the city.

“It was hard to talk to victims. They were afraid; they would make appointments and not show up,’’ Maldonado said, adding that he believes that factor led to the investigation lasting as long as it did. “We’re talking about people who don’t have bank accounts, who don’t have ways to save money ... and they trusted him (Sotelo).’‘

Rubin said her office is in contact with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to seek permission to allow alleged victims who have agreed to cooperate with the investigation to maintain residence here while the case is pending, but added that no such guarantee had been secured as of Tuesday. A 20-year veteran with the prosecutor’s office, Rubin said she has never worked a case of this kind, but added that she believes they are more common than records might indicate.

“It’s just not reported,’’ Rubin said. “The victims are afraid that if they come forward, they (authorities) will put their names out there and tell immigration (services).’‘

According to the prosecutor’s office, the fraud detection unit of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and The Salvation Army cooperated in the investigation. Henry Thibault, the director of the city’s Salvation Army chapter at the time the alleged fraud occurred and now the head of a chapter in Western Pennsylvania, when contacted Tuesday deferred comment to state Salvation Army representative Nancy Wellbrock. Wellbrock did not immediately return a phone call placed to her office.

Rubin said Sotelo will appear for arraignment before Union County Judge Stuart Peim at 9 a.m. Jan. 25. The investigation into the case remains active, and authorities urge anyone with information to call Detective Johnny Ho at 908-527-4551 or Maldonado at 908-753-3047.

Mark Spivey: 908-243-6607
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