Weeks after 1st case, another Jacksonville-area restaurant boss admits housing illegal help
For the second time in weeks, a second operator of a Beaches-area sushi restaurant has pleaded guilty to harboring illegal immigrant help that was paid in cash and housed in a home the restaurateur owned.
Ping Ping Zheng, 37, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison or be fined $250,000 for harboring an illegal alien for commercial advantage under a plea agreement approved by a magistrate in Jacksonville's federal court.
Zheng, a Chinese-born naturalized U.S. citizen, operated Kamiya 86 Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar at 1286 Third St. South in Jacksonville Beach, just six miles from a Kamiya 86 in Ponte Vedra Beach whose owner, Hua Yao Ke, pleaded guilty Feb. 6 to a similar charge carrying a potential five-year sentence.
Earlier: For using illegal immigrant work in Ponte Vedra restaurant, Chinese owner might get deported
Court files in Zheng's case said investigators following a tip began investigating use of illegal immigrants at the Ponte Vedra restaurant in 2023, then realized the same thing was happening at the Jacksonville Beach operation.
Like Ke, who owned a home off Kernan Boulevard near Beach Boulevard, Zheng owned a house near Leonard Abess Park north of Atlantic Boulevard where restaurant workers lived rent-free, according to the plea agreement.
The document quoted two illegal immigrants agents questioned at the house, one from Mexico and the other from Guatemala. The document said one reported he was paid $3,400 a month cash for work as a sushi cook and the other said he was paid $100 per day for unspecified work at the restaurant. Both men said they did not pay taxes.
Another court record, a 2024 application for a material witness warrant involving her case, said Zheng told investigators that two Mexicans, one Guatemalan and two Chinese men lived in the house and worked at the restaurant, traveling between the two places by van. Zheng had run the restaurant since 2019, the document said.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: 2nd Jacksonville restaurant boss pleads to hiring, housing illegal help
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