Effort to woo manager brought big fine to Mack

An inconspicuous meeting at a Reno Wendy's restaurant in 2000 was the first step leading to a $1 million fine for Mack Associates, operator of 11 Reno McDonald's restaurants, for knowingly employing illegal immigrant workers and providing two workers with false names and Social

Security numbers.

Mack Associates, headed by Luther Mack, will pay the fine as part of a plea agreement entered last week in a case heard before U.S. District Court Judge James C. Mahan. Three of its executives pleaded guilty to related charges and now face possible fines and jail time.

The plea stemmed from a late September 2007 U.S. Immigrations and

Customs sweep of area McDonald's that netted 58 illegal immigrants.

Court documents spelled out the story:

Joe Gillespie, director of operations for Mack Associates, and Jimmie Moore, a company vice president, approached former McDonald's manager

Felipe Garcia in May 2000 to see if he'd return as manager of a McDonald's store in the Reno area.

Garcia, who'd worked for the company since 1992, had been fired after an immigration raid at McDonald's locations earlier in 2000. Although he wasn't apprehended, Gill-espie and Moore fired him because he was a Mexican national in the United States illegally.

The plea agreement states that Garcia was offered his old job back and was provided with a name and Social Security number of "Jesus F.," the deceased ex-husband of Gillespie's wife. A manager at a McDonald's location prepared an I-9 form that said Garcia now using the assumed name and Social Security number was a legal resident authorized to work in the United States. He was paid under the false name. Moore knew about the use of the false name, federal prosecutors said in court filings.

A second problem for Mack Associates and its executives came from their employment of Nereyda Salgado, a Mexican national who worked for McDonald's from March 2003 to September 2007.

Salgado was hired using the name and Social Security number of her boyfriend at the time.

In 2006, the boyfriend told Salgado she could no longer use his Social

Security number. Moore told her he would take care of it. The next pay period Salgado received a paycheck in the name of "Nancy G." and was told by Mack Associates Controller Antoinette Richmond that Nancy G. was Salgado's new name for payroll purposes. Salgado was paid as Nancy

G. from mid-2006 until September 27, 2007.

Attorneys for Mack entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company to one count of conspiracy to encourage and induce and alien's unlawful residence in the U.S. and one count of aiding and abetting an alien to remain in the U.S., both felony offenses.

Each count carries a $500,000 fine, the maximum allowed. Mack and Associates also was placed on probation for a year. Mack and Associates was ordered to pay $300,000 immediately and the balance within nine months.

Gillespie pleaded guilty to one felony count of aiding and abetting an alien to remain in the United States, a felony. Moore, who pleaded guilty to one felony count of inducing an illegal alien to remain in the U.S., faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing. Richmond was charged with a misdemeanor count of continuing employment of an illegal alien.

Robert E. Goldman, an attorney for Warrington, Penn.-based Fox Rothschild, which represented Mack Associates, said in a written statement that Mack Associates has accepted full responsibility in the matter and cooperated fully with the U.S. Department of Justice in the investigation. Mack Associates has also offered to work with the federal government to ensure compliance with employment laws.

In a telephone interview, Goldman noted that the investigation exonerated Luther Mack of any knowledge of or participation in the immigration issues.

"I think the case is a wake-up call for a lot of businessmen that they need to learn from our experience that they have to be actively attuned to their worksite to avoid investigation and prosecution," he said.

"Putting in place an active compliance program is an excellent way for businessmen to avid the problems that we faced."