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Long Island resident Roberto Villanueva, age 65, of Huntington, was sentenced to six years behind bars Wednesday, Oct. 19, in federal court in Central Islip.
It followed his February 2022 guilty plea to charges of forced labor.
Villanueva, who managed the now-defunct Thatched Cottage in Centerport, has been jailed since his arrest in December 2017, according to the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.
Federal prosecutors said he admitted to conspiring with the venue’s former owner, Ralph Colamussi, to manipulate and take advantage of workers brought to the United States from the Philippines on H-2B visas.
Shortly after the workers’ visas expired, Villanueva coached them on how to apply for student visas by fraudulently claiming that they intended to attend school full time, and had sufficient resources to support themselves, prosecutors said.
Villanueva said that at times he deposited funds in the workers’ bank accounts to give the appearance of ample resources, and then withdrew the funds once the student visas were approved.
When workers objected to performing certain jobs, working consecutive shifts or not being paid promptly, Villanueva threatened to physically harm them or report them to immigration authorities, he later admitted.
“Villanueva exploited his victims’ immigration status, promising them the American dream, but instead threatening arrest or deportation if they didn’t work 16 hours a day, often unpaid, sleeping on bug infested mattresses covered in garbage bags, without heat or hot water,” US Attorney Breon Peace said.
“This sentence highlights our Office’s commitment to bringing abusers to justice.”
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