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March 16, 2006State employee triggered probeShe is suspected of selling fake documentsTRAVERSE CITY - A state employee accused of selling fake work documents prompted federal officials to investigate a Florida-based company that allegedly provided illegal contract workers to the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa.Juanita Schlagel was allegedly selling Social Security numbers and alien registration documents out of her Traverse City office when Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators caught up with her in spring 2005, according to U.S. District Court records in Grand Rapids. According to affidavits filed by ICE agent John Alpers, Schlagel told investigators that Santiago Echaniz of Traverse City - a worker with Rosenbaum-Cunningham International Inc. - was providing the resort with "numerous illegal aliens." Schlagel worked with the state's department of Labor and Economic Growth as a migrant services worker in Traverse City before resigning last summer, department spokeswoman Lori Donlan said. The investigation led to a raid last month that netted more than 20 illegal and undocumented employees working for RCI at the Acme resort. Alpers said in May 2005 an anonymous caller told ICE the resort was "paying a smuggler to bring illegal aliens from Texas to Michigan." But assistant U.S. attorney Hagen Frank said resort officials have "cooperated fully" and the resort was not a target in the investigation. Resort general manager Andrew Bateman said the resort terminated its contract with RCI March 2 as a result of the allegations. "We were wholly and completely unaware about the status of these employees," he said. "It is time that this issue was put to rest as far as the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa is concerned." The affidavits filed by Alpers on March 10 allege Miguel Martinez-Garcia and Ofmara Maltos-Trevino, both of Traverse City, violated federal law by unlawfully employing aliens and using fraudulent immigration documents. Frank said indictments against the two were returned Wednesday. Neither Schlagel or Echaniz, who have not been charged criminally, could be reached for comment. Federal agents raided Echaniz's Traverse City home and the offices of RCI Inc. in Florida on March 3, according to court records. Attempts to reach RCI officials were unsuccessful. The raid allegedly uncovered payroll ledgers and approximately $750,000 in funds said to be "traceable to the employment of illegal aliens" working for RCI at the resort and several other locations in the United States. Last year, RCI paid dozens of employees more than $86,000 in back overtime pay after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found workers were not paid overtime and, in some cases, the federal minimum wage. The violations occurred between July of 2002 and July of 2004. Bateman said the decision to retain RCI services then was made because no criminal charges were filed in the labor investigation. "(RCI) made immediate remediation to their employees," he said. "Plus, we had great employees ... we didn't want to punish them for the misdoing of anybody within RCI's organization." See related story:
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