The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested 26 employees of the Pei Wei Asian restaurant chain on Friday after an investigation found more than 100 workers may have used false documents to gain employment. One of the locations was in Tempe.
More arrests are likely Friday as deputies fan out to the homes of employees on record with the Scottsdale-based operation. The sheriff's office launched an investigation in June, after getting a tip that some employees were illegal immigrants. Deputies ran surveillance operations on several restaurants and checked corporate records, the sheriff's office said Friday. Deputies found at least 121 of the company's 800 employees in Maricopa County appeared to use false documents, including social security numbers.
The sheriff's office served search warrants on four restaurants this morning shortly after they opened, then took employees into custody. The Tempe location is at 1825 E. Guadalupe Road.
Deputies have contacted the people who had their identities stolen, and the office said more than 100 of them want to assist in prosecution.
Pei Wei operates 19 restaurants in Arizona and is part of PF Chang's China Bistro, which reports sales of nearly $2 billion.
ridiculous2010 posted at 3:56 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
It's pretty sad the lengths people will go to just to work a minimum wage job... Thank goodness our law enforcement was able to spend hundreds of hours investigating and arresting these hardened restaurant criminals... But, no need to worry about the Meth being smuggled across the border - that's someone elses problem - you keep focusing on fast food workers, the real problem in American society. Thank good AZ law enforcement knows that.
az2008 posted at 4:17 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
@ridiculous, if you were one of the hundreds of people whose ID was stolen, you would undoubtedly feel differently.
The Republic reported that these violations were reported 10 months ago. It didn't say why it took 10 months for Arpaio to act.
AnHonestCitizen posted at 4:32 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
What ever happened to honesty and integrity? So when is breaking and entering a crime? Murder? Is it really just how it is presented? Identity theft?
These people are just trying to better themselves...Really? Well in that case so was every criminal from Al Capone to Adolf Hitler. Breaking laws is just that...criminal activity.
Unfortunately crime is accepted as normal in all South American Countries. Yes I said "ALL". They are all based upon payoffs and corruption. Now we have citizens defending criminal activity. Well get ready because the good stuff like Cartels and everything that goes with it is coming to a neighborhood near you!
Great Job to the Maricopa Sheriffs Office.
az2008 posted at 6:51 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
@honest said "Crime is accepted as normal in all SA countries."
I've been in Latin America and watched people slip government officials a few currency notes to overlook disqualifying antecedants, filing requirements, etc.
I know a bicycle mechanic who rides the bus to work. He's from Mexico. He brags about how the bus driver is from Columbia and doesn't charge him to ride the bus. To him, it's a perk. Not corruption.
OTOH, perhaps the only difference between us and them is that our corruption exists at a higher level. We use bribes too. It's just called campaign contributions. Executive jobs are often based upon favoritism, like the free-bus perk. It's just us regular people who play by the rules. Latins seem to have given up on our facade.
tededitedit posted at 8:05 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
I had heard the the Tempe Pei Wei had a poor record on health inspections. See here and notice the up-and-down performance:
http://www.maricopa.gov/envsvc/envwebapp/tabs/results.aspx?navigatedFrom=businessResultsDrillDown&mc_perm_id=170264&business=PEI WEI ASIAN DINER&address=1825 E GUADALUPE RD&permitid=SG54709
I've always wondered if there was a link between restaurants that don't care about the law and restaurants that don't care about their customers' health. Does anyone know if there are studies about this? Are restaurant workers with elementary educations, who don't know our language, and who grew up surrounded by unsanitary conditions really able to pass the test to get VALID food-handler's cards in such numbers?
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:40 pm on Fri, Mar 4, 2011.
Just to show you how our Local TV stations have become overwhelmingly ...PRO-ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY.
The whole TV reporters story was how one of the Illegal Aliens who were accused of stealing a "legal" American citizens ...IDENTITY..and how she was to be married tomorrow. One of her co-workers blamed Sheriff Joe for ....RUINING....her wedding day. The co-worker had no compassion about the person who's ....IDENTITY...was stolen though. The TV reporter made a big deal about this "human suffering" due to Sheriff Joe ...ENFORCING...Federal Illegal Alien laws.
brainfreeze posted at 7:21 am on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
I'd like to know what happened to Pei Wei, what types of fines are they facing? They need to be HEAVILY fined to stop this invasion.
I don't feel sorry for them one bit, they knew they were breaking the law.
Thank you (again) Shariff Joe!!
john77 posted at 9:48 am on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
Is you steall the beans to others this is a crime.
Slabside posted at 4:27 pm on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
Dale says they're only here to pick lettuce and tomatoes.
Tempe25 posted at 10:54 am on Sun, Mar 6, 2011.
@ridiculous - REALLY?? The fact that these people are fast-food workers has nothing to do with it.....they CRIMINALS and identity thieves, which is a serious crime, in addition to already being a criminal by crossing the boarder illegally! Enough with your pity party for the poor people "just want to work". They are THIEVES!
Austin posted at 3:35 pm on Mon, Mar 7, 2011.
Open Your Eyes and See The Truth
http://newsblaze.com/story/20110305172809zzzz.nb/topstory.html
TomAlt posted at 6:48 pm on Wed, Mar 9, 2011.
It amazes me to see the rants and rage against people at the bottom of the food chain while the speculators that caused our financial meltdown continue to walk the streets. The greedy scum at the top produce nothing, requested and accepted taxpayer bailouts and corporate welfare with a smile. They are still spending our stolen wealth in bonuses and worst of all, are allowed by all our bought and paid for politicians to continue the same dangerous market manipulations that caused our current problems. Meanwhile we are expected to squabble over minimum age jobs while the big fish clean our pockets. Your enemy is not poor people, pay attention: http://nextamendment.info/