Parkersburg man pleads guilty to illegally employing immigrant living in US | News, Sports, Work

(Court reports – photo illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

CHARLESTON. A Parkersburg man pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of continuing to employ an immigrant living in the country illegally. John Robert Coe, 66, of Parkersburg, co-owned a company with Frederick Sayre Anderson that employed a foreign national from Madagascar from 2011 to May 2021, according to a report from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. The release said Coe admitted in court that at some point in 2011 he learned the woman was in the United States illegally, but she continued to work at a business described as a laboratory that provides water quality testing kits to state and local authorities. authorities throughout the country. The foreigner slept at the enterprise in an office converted into a bedroom, the report says. The business did not have a shower or bath, but Coe allowed the woman to bathe at his home. The woman delivered goods to customers, answered customer service calls and processed the company’s accounts receivable, the release said. Coe also paid the woman cash for extra work, such as cleaning his apartment and editing manuscripts for books he was preparing for publication.
“John was a minority shareholder in a company that employed a foreigner, which turned out to be illegal.” Coe’s lawyer, George Cosenza, said this on Wednesday. “He had no authority to write checks or make decisions.”
Cosenza said his client gave the woman extra money, bought her groceries and took her on errands because he “I felt sorry for this woman and tried to be kind to her.”
On May 12, 2021, the foreigner left the business permanently with the assistance of federal authorities, the release states. Coe is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5 and faces a maximum sentence of six months to three years in prison. supervised release and a $3,000 fine. He agreed to pay $54,740 in restitution. Anderson, 64, of Parkersburg, pleaded guilty in January 2024 to harboring, concealing and protecting from detection an alien and is awaiting sentencing. US Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and praised the investigative work of the US Department of Homeland Security, the West Virginia State Police and the Parkersburg Police Department. The hearing was presided over by US District Judge Thomas E. Johnston. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Jonathan T. Storage.
Evan Bevins can be reached at [email protected]