Latest news with #Kamiya86
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jacksonville Beach restaurant owner sentenced for harboring undocumented workers
Ping Ping Zheng, owner of Kamiya 86 Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar, will spend the next two years on probation for hiring people who were not legally authorized to work in the United States. Zheng, 37, pleaded guilty to federal charges in February. She was sentenced on May 27. According to the plea agreement, Zheng provided rent-free housing and transportation to undocumented workers and paid them in cash without withholding taxes. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Action News Jax told you in 2024 when the Jacksonville Beach restaurant was raided. Zheng and Hua Yao Ke were arrested. Ke also pleaded guilty to the charges. He will be sentenced in July. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Yahoo
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
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Yahoo
Second Kamiya 86 owner pleads guilty to hiring, housing undocumented immigrants
The owner of the Jacksonville Beach Kamiya 86 Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar is pleading guilty to harboring and hiring undocumented immigrants. The Department of Justice made the announcement Friday. 37-year-old Jacksonville woman Ping Ping Zheng is the second owner of a Kamiya 86 location in the area to face this charge. Action News Jax reported earlier this month when the owner of the Ponte Vedra Beach location, Hua Yao Ke, entered a guilty plea. Related: Local restaurant owner pleads guilty to hiring, housing undocumented immigrants The two restaurants were first raided by law enforcement back in August. According to the plea agreement, Zheng employed undocumented immigrants at the restaurant. She also provided them free housing and transportation between the home and the restaurant. The workers were paid in cash, meaning taxes were not deducted from their wages. Related: 'The entire place was surrounded:' Kamiya 86 restaurants raided by Homeland Security As part of the agreement, Zheng has agreed to forfeit the Jacksonville home and a transit van. A sentencing date has not yet been sent, but the DOJ said she could face up to 10 years in prison. The case was investigated by Homeland Security, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
