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Illegal aliens draw fine for restaurant
Tuesday, December 18, 2001 By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The owners of a popular Chinese restaurant in Ross who admitted they hired illegal aliens to work in the kitchen will each have to pay $35,000 in fines, but they won't do any prison time.
Yee Bun Cheung and To Tat Yeung, who own Oriental Super Buffet on McKnight Road, pleaded guilty in September to hiring 10 illegal aliens, saying they didn't have a choice because they could not find qualified help in Pittsburgh.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Robert Cindrich gave them each two years of probation and ordered each of them to pay a fine of $3,000 for each illegal employee. He also ordered the restaurant to pay a $10,000 fine.
Both men had complained about the amount of the fine, but they agreed to pay it as part of their plea and so had no choice but to accept the sentence.
Cheung and Yeung recruited illegal aliens for work from July 2000 to April 17, when Immigration and Naturalization Service agents raided the restaurant and a home on Perrysville Avenue where dozens of workers lived.
Cheung, 35, of Ross, and Yeung, 49, of New York, explained that the restaurant needed lots of specialized workers to prepare Chinese food because the restaurant is so big and busy.
In fall 2000, immigration agents saw a van registered to Cheung discharge as many as 19 workers at the restaurant.
On its books, however, the restaurant was showing only 14 or 15 workers.
Agents raided the restaurant and house April 17. Payroll records in Chinese showed each was paid $1,200 to $2,500 a month.
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