NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A 33-count indictment was unsealed today charging four people with joining together to defraud and commit offenses against the United States, including human trafficking of individuals from Central America, benefiting from forced labor, money laundering, and various other immigration-related offenses, such as harboring undocumented non-citizens.

According to allegations in the indictment, Ana Patricia Landaverde, 47, of Williamsburg, Jeffrey Dean Vaughan, 64, of Williamsburg, and George William Evans, 68, of Midlothian, engaged in a conspiracy to harbor, transport, and benefit from the employment of undocumented noncitizens at their commercial laundry business, Northstar Holdings of Virginia LLC, d/b/a Magnolia Cleaning Services, LLC. Between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2022, the business’s wage records reflect approximately 121 employees with alleged invalid or mismatched Social Security Numbers and wage payments of more than $1.2 million to these employees.

The fourth unnamed defendant is alleged to have acted as an illegal supplier of fraudulent identification documents. Prospective employees without proper documentation to work in the United States were allegedly referred to this defendant to purchase a counterfeit permanent resident card and social security card.

As further set forth in the indictment, Landaverde, Vaughan, and Evans also allegedly engaged in human trafficking of labor from Central America and benefitting from...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMidGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lmp1c3RpY2UuZ...