Pastor Pleads Guilty to Scamming Immigrants

An Ecuadorean storefront pastor is expected to go to jail for scamming over 100 immigrants by promising to get
them U.S. visas and legal status.
    
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says 57-year-old Gregorio Gonzalez, of Mamaroneck, pleaded guilty Wednesday to grand larceny. He faces a possible prison sentence of two to six years and will be deported thereafter because he, too, is an illegal immigrant.
    
The defendant's sister and another man have already been sentenced in the case.
    
Brown says Gonzalez met with the mostly Ecuadorean victims at various Queens locations, including his church, and promised visas and permanent immigration status for fees ranging from $6,000 to $10,000.
    
Efforts to contact Gonzalez's lawyer were not immediately successful.
    
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 26.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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