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Cleaning service owners indicted; employees held
Officials of the company headquartered in Palm Beach face fraud and tax charges.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 23, 2007
An investigation of cleaning crews working at a northern Michigan resort has led to federal fraud and tax charges being filed against three top officials of a nationwide janitorial service with ties to Florida and the arrest of more than 200 illegal immigrants around the country, government officials said. The detainees - mostly Mexican nationals - who were rounded up early Thursday were working as janitors for Rosenbaum-Cunningham International Inc., or RCI, a cleaning contractor with its headquarters in Palm Beach. RCI co-owners Richard M. Rosenbaum, 60, of Longwood; and Edward Scott Cunningham, 43, of West Palm Beach; and firm controller Christina A. Flocken, 59, also of Longwood, face criminal fraud, immigration and tax charges in a 23-count indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, Mich. "This is not a case of bad bookkeeping or skirting the rules," said Brian M. Moskowitz, special agent in charge of the Detroit office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "It involved flagrant criminal behavior." Moskowitz said federal agents arrested Rosenbaum in Longwood earlier in the day. Cunningham and Flocken were expected to soon turn themselves in to federal authorities in Grand Rapids, Mich., where the case will be tried, he said. Their practice of paying cash wages to their workers deprived the U.S. government of about $18.6-million in employment taxes, the indictment said. About 203 illegal immigrants who worked for RCI were arrested and expected to be deported, Moskowitz said. Agents took them into custody at 63 business locations in 17 states, including Florida, and the District of Columbia. A telephone message at RCI's headquarters in Palm Beach said the company - incorporated in Nevada - had "ceased operations" effective Thursday. The joint investigation began 20 months ago at the Grand Traverse Resort in Acme, Mich. RCI contracted with the resort between June 1997 and March 2006, according to the indictment. Between 2002 and 2006 alone, Grand Traverse paid RCI more than $3-million for grounds and maintenance services, kitchen cleaning and housekeeping duties. Not only did RCI fail to pay employment taxes on its nationwide operations - its clients included such venues as Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe and ESPN Zone - but its top officials also told managers to provide a work force of illegal immigrants with fake resident cards, or green cards, the indictment said. Fast Facts: Cleaning contractor wide spread Dozens of illegal immigrants employed by Rosenbaum-Cunningham International Inc., a cleaning contractor, were taken into custody Thursday at 63 business locations in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The states: Arizona California Colorado Florida Georgia Illinois Kansas Maryland Missouri Nebraska Nevada New York New Jersey North Carolina Pennsylvania Tennessee Texas Associated Press
[Last modified February 23, 2007, 06:13:19]
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