Fil-Am in LA gets 57 months for forced labor

CHICAGO – A Filipino registered nurse who set up two elderly care homes in Los Angeles has been sentenced to 57 months in prison after being convicted for forced labor violation and for unlawful conduct with documents. Evelyn Apan Pelayo, a native of General Tinio in the northern Philippine province of Nueva Ecija, was sentenced by US District Judge Gary Allen Feess of the Central District of California in Los Angeles after pleading guilty to “Counts 6 and 11 of the 12-count Indictment" “to be served concurrently." Pelayo, 53, a naturalized US citizen and owner of Vernon Way and Walton View care homes in Long Beach, was also ordered to pay “the United States a special assessment of $200, which is due immediately" and “restitution in the total amount of $167,389.43." She will also be placed on “supervised release for a term of three years" after her release from “a Southern California facility." Pelayo waived her right to appeal her sentence. Her husband, Darwin Adan Padolina, 56, who lost his job from “accounting/auditing businesses," was sentenced to a three-year probation after pleading guilty to single-count of “concealing and harboring illegal aliens" last June 22. Padolina “shall participate for a period of six months in a home detention program which may include electronic monitoring, GPS, or voice recognition and shall observe all rules of such program, as directed by the probation officer." Barred from care business Apart from their sentences, the husband-and-wife are barred from engaging “in any business involving elder care or convalescent care without the express approval of the probation officer prior to engagement in such employment." Pelayo was stripped of her State of California license to operate an elder care business. Pelayo advertised her two nursing homes at 5561 E. Vernon Street and 5651 E. Walton Street, both in Long Beach. They were closed after federal authorities raided their elderly care and boarding facilities. Padolina admitted that he hid the alien, a fellow Filipino, for 10 years while the person worked as a domestic servant in his home. He initially faced a maximum possible penalty of 10 years in prison. Deported Two other defendants in the case, Rodolfo Demafeliz, 39, and his assistant, Rolleta Riazon, 28, both Philippine nationals, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to encourage and induce illegal aliens to enter the United States for the purpose of private financial gain. Demafeliz and Riazon had served out their sentences and had been deported to the Philippines. Court records showed that Pelayo admitted paying a co-defendant $12,000 to smuggle two illegal aliens into the US from the Philippines and then forced the two to work at her elder care homes after confiscating their passports and threatening to turn them over to authorities if they attempted to escape. "The defendants in this case exploited the dreams of foreign nationals who sought a better life in the United States," according to a press statement of United States Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien after filing the charges. "Instead of realizing the American Dream, the victims in this case were subjected to inhumane treatment that profited only the defendants," it said. For forcing victims to work up to 24 hours a day, while keeping up to half of their meager salaries, Pelayo initially faced 25 years in prison. Pelayo recruited potential workers in the Philippines, promising them jobs in her elder care facilities. Once the victims agreed, Pelayo contacted Demafeliz, a taekwondo martial arts instructor, who would enter the aliens in taekwondo tournaments in the US as a ruse to bring them into the country. Demafeliz obtained visas for the victims and provided them with limited martial arts training to make the visas appear legitimate. $12,000 for human smuggling Once the aliens were brought to Southern California, Pelayo paid Demafeliz $6,000 for each alien smuggled into the United States. However, Pelayo told the victims that she paid $12,000 and informed them that they would have to work at her elder care facilities until they had repaid her for their smuggling debt. Both Demafeliz and Riazon admitted to have smuggled at least 25 illegal aliens under the guise of participating as black belts in martial arts competition. Pelayo was involved with two individuals, Angela Guanzon and Jason De Guzman, who were also deemed by the court as “criminals on their own right," as participants to the scheme. Pelayo also told some victims that they would have to work for her for 10 years, even if their smuggling debts were repaid. Pelayo confiscated the victims’ passports; discouraged victims from speaking with neighbors, patients, family members of patients and law enforcement officials; and threatened to contact police and immigration officials if they tried to escape. Pelayo had since “repented her crimes and sins committed in this case," according to a letter her lawyer, Philip P. DeLuca, sent to the judge. - GMANews.TV