Father and son Woburn restaurant owners plead guilty to smuggling migrants

A father and son from Woburn who own two restaurants have pleaded guilty to smuggling migrants into the United States from Brazil, officials announced Thursday.

Jesse James Moraes, 66, and Hugo Giovanni Moraes, 45, who own Taste of Brazil—Tudo Na Brasa and The Dog House Bar and Grill, recruited undocumented migrants from Brazil to come to the United States through Mexico without authorization, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The defendants charged fees between $12,000 and $22,000 per person, authorities said.

The migrants were encouraged to make false asylum claims and given fraudulent information about points of contact to give to immigration authorities when they were caught, the statement said.

Once the migrants reached the United States, the father and son helped them to acquire long-term housing, officials said, including apartments owned by Hugo Moraes’s relatives.

“The defendants arranged for some of the migrants to work at Tudo Na Brasa/Taste of Brazil and The Dog House Bar and Grill and paid the migrants either entirely or partly in cash unless and until the migrants obtained identification documents, at which point they would be paid at least partly by check,” the statement said.

The defendants told the migrants to obtain false identification documents and referred them to a co-defendant, Marcos Chacon Gil, also known as “Marquito,” who assisted in getting them the documents, the office said.

Some of the migrants paid off some of their smuggling fees when they got to the United States through direct payment, having their wages withheld, or by collection by relatives and other associates, authorities said.

The father and son both pleaded guilty to conspiring to encourage and induce an alien to come to, enter, and reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law, and for commercial advantage or private financial gain, the statement said. 

Officials said Jesse Moraes also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder the proceeds of the migrant smuggling conspiracy.

Sentencings are scheduled for Feb. 11.

Lindsay Shachnow

 

Lindsay Shachnow covers general assignment news for Boston.com, reporting on breaking news, crime, and politics across New England.