Tax preparer accused of cheating immigrants out of cash, residency

A 45-year-old tax preparer is facing multiple counts of grand theft in an alleged immigration scheme that promised immigrants legal residency but instead landed them in deportation proceedings.

Ramon Rodriguez heads to Superior Court on Monday, charged with defrauding illegal immigrants out of tens of thousands of dollars between 1997 and 2003.

More than a dozen immigrants are named in the complaint, but local immigration attorneys and advocates say the number of victims may be in the hundreds.

Santos Gomez Cuevas, 46, of Sonoma told police he paid Rodriguez $2,500 to help him and his wife become U.S. citizens. Cuevas, who came to Sonoma County in 1990 from Michoacan, Mexico, said he now faces deportation after Rodriguez filed an application for political asylum on his behalf.

Mexican immigrants are almost never eligible for political asylum.

"You come forward with the idea that you're going to get ahead, but in the end you're deceived," Cuevas said, speaking in Spanish. Cuevas' wife died last year of cancer.

While some plaintiffs have received stays of deportation while they cooperate with county officials in the case against Rodriguez, they'll still face deportation proceedings in the future.

Rodriguez was released from jail last week after posting $130,000 bond. He had spent several months behind bars after eight felony charges were brought against him in March. Four more felony counts were added to the complaint last week, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Kathleen DeLoe, the lead prosecutor in the case.

According to police records, victims say Rodriguez offered both income tax and immigration services from his Santa Rosa office. In one case, Rodriguez was said to have taken a portion of an immigrant's tax refund - $1,200 - to help pay for his immigration services.

According to the complaint, Rodriguez promised his clients Social Security cards, work permits and green cards. Instead, Rodriguez had them unknowingly file applications for political asylum, which led to deportation.

Rodriguez, the complaint said, would either abandon his clients or refer them to an attorney who would then seek to cancel the deportation order.

Neither Rodriguez nor his San Rafael attorney, Michael Marowitz, could be reached for comment. DeLoe said she couldn't comment on the specifics of the case against Rodriguez while it is in court.

"I think the complaint speaks for itself," she said.

Immigration attorneys and advocates say the charges against Rodriguez aren't unique.

"This is a scam that's happening nationwide," said Vicky Mayster, director of immigration and resettlement services for Catholic Charities, which has cooperated with county officials in building a case against Rodriguez.

"It's very widespread locally," Mayster said. "Over the past few years we have seen 50 to 100 families minimum. Honestly, I think this is the tip of the iceberg."

Lissette Gomez, a San Francisco attorney who represented several of Rodriguez's clients after they ended up in the hands of immigration officials, said she thinks Rodriguez may have defrauded hundreds of the area's illegal immigrants.

"I started to realize that some of these people were not eligible for what they were seeking," Gomez said. "They thought they were putting in an application for a green card."

This isn't the first time Rodriguez has faced prosecution. He pleaded guilty last year to three misdemeanor charges stemming from his work as an immigration consultant.

Rodriguez was charged with failing to post a notice that he wasn't an attorney, failing to provide written contracts and not having a professional bond.

Rodriguez was sentenced to two years' probation, forbidden to work as an immigration consultant and fined $1,500, DeLoe said.