Owner of Gracie's Chinese Cuisine restaurant sentenced after federal raid

EVANSVILLE – The owner of a Vanderburgh County Chinese restaurant was sentenced to time served Wednesday after pleading guilty to money laundering and transporting and harboring undocumented workers.

Kent Dam, 55, who owns Gracie's Chinese Cuisine with his wife, pleaded guilty to the charges during a hearing in U.S. District Court in January. According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the restaurant will also pay a $15,000 fine and be put on two years probation for unlawful employment of undocumented workers.

Dam and Gracie's was put under surveillance after the launch of a federal investigation in June 2020. In February 2021, the Internal Revenue Service and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raided the business at its strip-mall location off U.S. 41, forcing it to temporarily close.

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Federal agents accused Dam of underpaying employees who weren't authorized to work in the U.S., thereby increasing his profits. According to court records, he found some of the workers from "smugglers and handlers."

The U.S. Attorney's Office laid out that alleged process in the release.

"Agents were told that a human smuggler was facilitating the exploitation of undocumented laborers by delivering them to businesses," the release states. "On multiple occasions, the smuggler drove the undocumented workers from another state to Gracie's Chinese Cuisine’s and to two residences owned by Dam on West Wortman Road in Evansville. Dam and his wife personally paid the smuggler for delivering workers to the West Wortman Road residences."

According to court records, the handler charged Dam a fee for locating a worker, and Dam then charged that fee to the employee.

In October 2020, officials claim, Dam was pulled over with five people in his car who weren't legally allowed to live in the U.S. The passengers – who were from Indonesia, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador, respectively – all reportedly told police they worked in the kitchen at Gracie's. Some had been here for a few months, while at least one said he'd worked there for more than seven years.

They claimed they were paid between $800 and $2,500 a month via check or cash.

"The workers said that Dam did not ask them to complete the standard employment forms regarding citizenship and taxes. Some claimed that they did not even have to show Dam identification to get a job," the release states. "Two of the workers stated that they were brought to Dam’s restaurant by a smuggler."

Four of the men were ultimately released, while the fifth, who had been previously deported, was charged with illegally entering the U.S. and sent back to his home country.

"Shortly after the traffic stop, Dam contacted a human smuggler and stated that he needed a worker," the release states.

U.S. District Judge Richard Young also ordered Dam to pay a $35,000 fine and relinquish his 2017 Toyota Tundra, which he reportedly used to transport the workers.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Owner of Evansville Chinese restaurant sentenced after federal raid