According to a press release published by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, TentLogix, Inc corporate officer Gary Hendry, 52, of Jenson Beach, Florida, and two other corporate officers were sentenced on December 20, 2019:
"TentLogix, Inc. and its corporate officers Hendry and Dennis Birdsall, 41, of Stuart, Florida, and Kent Hughes, 53, of Jenson Beach, previously pled guilty for their involvement in the conspiracy (Case No. 19-CR-14035).
TentLogix was sentenced to 4 years of probation, to include the implementation of a corporate compliance program. In addition, TentLogix was ordered to forfeit $3,033,946.46 to the United States. Hendry was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. He was also ordered to forfeit $282,789 to the United States and pay a $75,000 fine. Birdsall was previously sentenced to 5 years of probation. Birdsall was also ordered to forfeit $170,943 to the United States and pay a $15,000 fine. Hughes was previously sentenced to 3 years of probation. Hughes was also ordered to forfeit $80,000 to the United States and pay a $7,500 fine. "The press release lays out the findings from the court record, emphasizing the employment of ninety-two aliens who entered the country illegally and the scheme concocted in defiance of our laws to purposely conceal them from TentLogix payroll (emphasis mine):
"According to the court record, from January 2016 to March 2018, TentLogix employed approximately ninety-two aliens knowing those individuals had entered and remained in the United States unlawfully. During this time frame, a large portion of TentLogix’s workforce in the Southern District of Florida was comprised of aliens who were not authorized to work in the United States.
While TentLogix was being investigated by HSI for violations of federal immigration law, Hendry, the chief executive officer of TentLogix, Birdsall, the president of TentLogix, and Hughes devised a scheme to “transfer” the aliens employed by TentLogix to KH Services, LLC, a company owned by Hughes, so that they no longer appeared on TentLogix’s payroll.
Hendry was the architect of the unlawful scheme and recruited Hughes, a childhood friend, to participate. Hughes formed KH Services, LLC for the sole purpose of concealing, harboring, and shielding the aliens employed by TentLogix from HSI’s investigation. Hendry directed Birdsall to make a supervisor (“GMC”) at TentLogix aware of the scheme. At Hendry’s behest, Birdsall directed the supervisor to tell the aliens employed by TentLogix to obtain new identities, including social security numbers, which GMC did, so that they could be “transferred” to KH Services, LLC. "E-Verify, authorized by Congress and signed into law by former President Bill Clinton through the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), is a web-based system through which employers electronically confirm the employment eligibility of their employees.
The guilty pleas and sentencing of TentLogix officers for defying Federal law requiring employers hire only U.S. citizens and aliens who are authorized to work in the country come on the heels of news accounts that Florida Senate President Bill Galvano does NOT support a mandate on private business use the federal government’s E-Verify system.
From WUSF Public Media:
"Gov. Ron DeSantis wants all Florida businesses to use a system to prevent undocumented immigrants (inserted by me: system to ensure Florida businesses follow the IIRIRA) from getting jobs in the state, but a powerful Republican leader is pushing back against the proposal.
Senate President Bill Galvano said this week he does not support a measure that would force Florida's private employers to use the federal government's E-Verify system, which checks to see if new hires are authorized to work in the U.S."
