December 26, 2007
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Dec. 13 that a Roswell pastor and her four cohorts were convicted of a fraud scheme that targeted illegal aliens to the tune of nearly $500,000.
Ruy B. Silva, 46, of Roswell, was convicted by a federal jury on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements after an 11-day trial. She was joined by Emma Gerald, 56, and Douglas Ross, 30, both of Kennesaw and Hudson Araujo, 28, of Brockton, Mass.
Ken Smith, Special Agent-in-Charge of Immigration and Custom Enforcement's office of Investigations in Atlanta said the Silva and her compatriots profited exclusively from exploiting the U.S. immigration system.
"It is especially troubling that these individuals abused their positions of trust to attract their clientèle," he said, referring to the fact that Silva and Gerald were both church leaders.
According to Nahmias, the charges and other information presented at trial, Gerald, the pastor of Pillar Of Faith Church, held herself out as a consultant to aliens seeking amnesty in the United States.
Gerald conducted meetings at Marietta churches to solicit aliens, largely Brazilian nationals who were illegally present in the United States, to apply for the "Catholic Social Services/Lulac/Newman Amnesty Program." Silva was a pastor of one of the churches and made it available to Gerald for the meetings.
Over the course of the scheme, Gerald charged the aliens between $300 per person/ $500 per married couple to approximately $600 per person/ $1100 per married couple for meetings in Florida, Georgia and Massachusetts. For an extra fee, Gerald would provide the aliens with letters falsely stating that they met the program requirements as to length of residence and previous application for amnesty. Ross, Gerald's son, attended the meetings, assisted her with preparing and collecting applications and collected money from the aliens.
Gerald and other co-conspirators were indicted on multiple charges on May 18, 2006.
Evidence at trial showed that Gerald alone received at least $465,000 in the scheme, which she used to purchase a half-million dollar house in Kennesaw, and new Mercedes sedan valued at more than $75,000.
"Today's verdict should serve as a warning to those who would file fraudulent applications with United States Immigration authorities," said U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias. "As was said in court, this is a case that began with a thousand lies, and the jury's verdict spoke the final word of truth."
For her part, Silva faces a maximum of 15 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $500,000. Gerald faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.25 million. Ross and Araujo each face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
- www.northfulton.com
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