February 7, 2008

BRAZILIAN CITIZEN ARRESTED IN BOSTON FOR
HARBORING ALIENS IN VERMONT

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Sanderson Pinheiro, a citizen of Brazil, had been arrested in Boston, Massachusetts after being indicted by the federal grand jury in Vermont. Count 1 of the indictment charged that Pinheiro conspired with co-defendant Gurdeep Nagra, a native of India and a citizen of Canada, to employ illegal aliens to work as a cleaning crew in two hotels then controlled by Nagra in Brattleboro, Vermont, the Quality Inn and the Hampton Inn. Count 2 of the indictment charged Pinheiro and Nagra with harboring aliens or shielding them from detection, including doing so at the Quality Inn.

Count 5 of the indictment charged Pinheiro with falsely claiming to be a citizen of the United States in the course of his June 25, 2007 attempt to obtain a non driver ID from the state of Vermont.
Counts 3 and 4 of the indictment accused Nagra of false statements to the authorities in the course of applying for permission to live in the United States. Those counts were not related to Pinheiro.

If Pinheiro were convicted of all counts he could receive a five year sentence on the conspiracy charge, ten years for the harboring and three years for the false claim to U.S citizenship. Any actual sentence would be decided by the presiding judge, based at least in part on the United States Sentencing Guidelines. All defendants are of course presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Mr. Nagra is represented by Lisa Shelkrot, Esq. of Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP. Mr. Pinheiro is represented by Bill Fick, Esq. of the Federal Public Defenders Office in Boston. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Gelber.