FAYETTEVILLE — A Springdale man will serve 30 months in federal prison for hiring out illegal immigrants using fake documents.
Valentin Gutierrez was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Fayetteville.
Gutierrez harbored at least 15 immigrants, counterfeiting Social Security cards and other documents, then hiring them out as contract labor, mostly to poultry and catfish farms in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.
Homeland Security, the FBI, Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Springdale and Rogers police departments investigated the case, which first came to light in 2008.
Gutierrez, a legal U.S. resident, fled to Mexico in 2009 but was captured in January when border authorities detained him as he tried to re-enter the U.S., said David Harris, assistant U.S. attorney.
Gutierrez pleaded guilty to a single count of harboring and shielding illegal immigrants for financial gain in May. In addition to prison time, he was ordered Tuesday to pay a $10,000 fine and serve two years parole.
The documents appeared to be completely false rather than stolen identities of real people, Harris said. The companies that hired the workers were unaware of the workers’ illegal statuses and will not face charges, he said.