A Santa Maria Valley man who took a plea deal months after his arrest on suspicion of labor fraud has been ordered to spend 366 days in federal prison and pay $165,157 in restitution.
Jorge Vasquez, 65, of Santa Maria was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge John Walter.
Vasquez pleaded guilty on June 24 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud after authorities accused him of illegally collecting tens of thousands of dollars in fees from Mexican nationals in exchange for H-2A visas permitting them to be employed as farmworkers in the United States. He also paid them at a reduced rate for their work, according to the criminal allegations.
In November, federal Homeland Security Investigations agents raided a property east of Santa Maria, taking at least four people, including Vasquez, into custody. That raid occurred in a neighborhood on Cambridge Way off Telephone Road.
The H‑2A visa program allows U.S. agriculture employers to hire seasonal foreign workers with strict rules. Specifically, employers cannot charge the H-2A workers for visa costs, work supplies, or employer-provided housing or transportation.
Once the workers were in the United States, Vasquez charged them for transportation and housing, paid lower salaries than promised and ordered those seeking to leave to hand over thousands of dollars, according to federal authorities.
According to his plea agreement, Vasquez recruited foreign workers on H-2A visas to work at two entities he controlled — Cuyama Valley Farms LLC and JJB Farm LLC.
Despite being prohibited from charging the workers fees, Vasquez charged farmworkers between $8,000 and $15,000 for their H‑2A visas.
In total, Vasquez and his co-conspirators fraudulently recruited 162 foreign workers for H-2A visas, federal investigators said.
He also paid them hourly rates more than $3 lower than initially promised, according to federal court documents.
The mail fraud stems from the allegation that the defendants claimed on forms sent via FedEx and UPS to the government that they had not sought or received payments from the H-2A workers.
Before Monday’s hearing, Vasquez’s attorney sought a sentence of eight months, noting that the defendant has been in custody since his arrest nine months ago.
Federal prosecutors had asked for 11 months, or the middle term, noting federal sentencing guidelines range between eight and 14 months.
The charge carried a statutory maximum sentence of five years.
Vasquez also will be placed on three years of supervised release after his prison term.
Three other charges in the federal grand jury indictment were dismissed under the plea deal.
Vasquez has faced the same allegations previously and was on supervised release from the prior case when some of the new offenses occurred.
For the prior case, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison plus three years of supervised release. He also was ordered to pay $135,388 to the workers he exploited, according to federal court documents.
Another defendant, Gabriella Lopez, was arrested and charged with labor fraud allegations late last year with Vasquez, but that case is still pending in federal court.
In early August, Lopez appeared in federal court for an arraignment hearing. She pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud plus three counts of mail fraud.
A trial date was tentatively set for September, but the judge is expected to consider delaying it until March 9.