Salvadoran native pleads guilty to visa fraud, identity theft

BANGOR – A man linked to the owner of the Mexican Restaurant in Hancock pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to federal charges of visa fraud, Social Security fraud and identity theft.

Abraham Gallardo Paredes, also known as Juan Lorenzo Hernandez Lopez, 49, was arrested June 28 along with Doris Amanda Ayala Escalante, 39, of Harrington.

Escalante pleaded guilty last month to hiring illegal aliens to work at Washington County businesses and the restaurant she operated with relatives. She also pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of visas and other documents.

Her sentencing date has not been set.

Investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at first thought that Paredes, a native of El Salvador, had overstayed his tourist visa, according to court documents. For that, he would have been removed from the country but not charged with a crime.

Further investigation found that checks written from Escalante to Paredes and vice versa had been cashed, according to court documents. Checks to Paredes also were found in an account used to pay workers at a Lubec sea cucumber processing plant and wreath factory in 2005 and 2006.

Paredes faces up to 10 years in prison on the visa fraud charge, up to five years on the Social Security fraud charge and a mandatory two years of imprisonment consecutive to any other sentences on the aggravated identity theft charge.

He also faces fines of up to $250,000.

His sentencing date has not been set.

Reporter Judy Harrison can be reached at 990-8207 or jharrison@bangordailynews.net.