The operators of restaurants in Pella and Oskaloosa have avoided prison time, but have been ordered to pay fines for employing illegal immigrants “off the books.”
According to prosucutors, operators of the Oskaloosa Family Restaurant and the Tulip Garden Restaurant in Pella harbored illegal aliens and filed false statements on their tax returns by not listing those illegal immigrants as employees. The restauranteurs also provided housing for the workers and prosucutors say they knew their workers were in the country illegally.
The restaurant operators were each sentenced to two years of probation, but also ordered to pay restitution to the IRS. Two of the men — operators of the Oskaloosa restaurant — were together ordered to pay the IRS about $32,000 and each was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. The operator of the Tulip Garden in Pella was ordered to pay over $15,000 to the IRS, but he was not fined.
The operators of the Oskaloosa restaurant have the same last name and are about a year apart in age. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office says they are not brothers, but the “degree of their relationship” is not part of the public record.