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Immigration trial postponed in light of new charges
By JEFF REINITZ, Courier Staff Writer
CEDAR RAPIDS --- The immigration trial for a pair of brothers-in-law who operate a chain of restaurants has been pushed back as federal authorities pursue new charges against them.
In the latest round of indictments to be handed down against Luis Armando Varela-Arteaga and Jose De Jesus Ibarra-Castaneda, authorities said the two failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income on their tax returns.
The government also alleges the two, who live in Cedar Rapids and are listed as officers for Hacienda Las Glorias in Waterloo and other companies, took steps to bypass laws relating to registering large cash transactions when they made purchases.
The new charges --- which were the third round since the original indictment in February --- came after investigators combed through the businesses' financial records they seized while looking into immigration allegations, according to court records.
The government alleges the two didn't report their actual earnings in taxes filings for 2001, 2002 and 2003.
For example, Varela-Arteaga reported $122,413 in total income on his 2003 income taxes when he really made $266,141, according to the recent indictment. For that same year, Ibarra-Castaneda reported $158,778 in total income but really took in $231,494, records state.
Federal rules require businesses to report to the Internal Revenue Service transactions made with large amounts of cash. And authorities said Ibarra-Castaneda tried to get around this law when he divided up a deposit into his Wells Fargo bank account. He made cash deposits of $2,000, $8,000 and $3,000 on July 25, 2003, and then wrote a single check to buy a $14,662 money order, records state.
Varela-Arteaga used a combination of cash and checks to bypass the rules when he paid off a vehicle loan on a Hummer and an in-ground pool.
In the first two indictments, investigators said the companies accepted false resident alien cards from workers it hired and alleged the two brothers-in-law arranged a sham marriage between an American woman who worked at the Waterloo restaurant and an illegal alien so the alien could skirt immigration laws.
Authorities also allege Varela-Arteaga and his wife, Martha Beatriz Varela, both natives of Mexico, got divorced and each married Americans so they could get legal resident immigration status in the United States.
Their American spouses, Cecil Scott Becker of Cedar Rapids and Tiffany Marie Cross of Mesa, Ariz., also have been named as defendants.
In other developments, a planned Hacienda Las Glorias expansion at the former McDonald's restaurant on University Avenue has been halted for months. And city officials said the company has to reapply for building permits if it plans to resume construction.
The federal court also granted Varela-Arteaga and Ibarra-Castaneda permission to sell their shares of a vacant restaurant building in Moline, Ill., because of mounting legal expenses and overdue taxes, according to court records.
They are shareholders in Viscaya, which owns the Moline building.
In the latest round of indictments to be handed down against Luis Armando Varela-Arteaga and Jose De Jesus Ibarra-Castaneda, authorities said the two failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income on their tax returns.
The government also alleges the two, who live in Cedar Rapids and are listed as officers for Hacienda Las Glorias in Waterloo and other companies, took steps to bypass laws relating to registering large cash transactions when they made purchases.
The new charges --- which were the third round since the original indictment in February --- came after investigators combed through the businesses' financial records they seized while looking into immigration allegations, according to court records.
The government alleges the two didn't report their actual earnings in taxes filings for 2001, 2002 and 2003.
For example, Varela-Arteaga reported $122,413 in total income on his 2003 income taxes when he really made $266,141, according to the recent indictment. For that same year, Ibarra-Castaneda reported $158,778 in total income but really took in $231,494, records state.
Federal rules require businesses to report to the Internal Revenue Service transactions made with large amounts of cash. And authorities said Ibarra-Castaneda tried to get around this law when he divided up a deposit into his Wells Fargo bank account. He made cash deposits of $2,000, $8,000 and $3,000 on July 25, 2003, and then wrote a single check to buy a $14,662 money order, records state.
Varela-Arteaga used a combination of cash and checks to bypass the rules when he paid off a vehicle loan on a Hummer and an in-ground pool.
In the first two indictments, investigators said the companies accepted false resident alien cards from workers it hired and alleged the two brothers-in-law arranged a sham marriage between an American woman who worked at the Waterloo restaurant and an illegal alien so the alien could skirt immigration laws.
Authorities also allege Varela-Arteaga and his wife, Martha Beatriz Varela, both natives of Mexico, got divorced and each married Americans so they could get legal resident immigration status in the United States.
Their American spouses, Cecil Scott Becker of Cedar Rapids and Tiffany Marie Cross of Mesa, Ariz., also have been named as defendants.
In other developments, a planned Hacienda Las Glorias expansion at the former McDonald's restaurant on University Avenue has been halted for months. And city officials said the company has to reapply for building permits if it plans to resume construction.
The federal court also granted Varela-Arteaga and Ibarra-Castaneda permission to sell their shares of a vacant restaurant building in Moline, Ill., because of mounting legal expenses and overdue taxes, according to court records.
They are shareholders in Viscaya, which owns the Moline building.
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