Owner of Salsalito gets probation in illegal hiring

The guilty plea of an employer who admitted hiring illegal workers — in the only such prosecution in San Antonio in at least the past decade — has resulted in a five-year probation sentence and a $750,000 fine.

In July, Hossein Bagheri, 50, entered guilty pleas in federal court on behalf of himself and his restaurant company, Salsalito Cantina Inc., to charges of hiring the workers.

Federal prosecutors did not oppose probation, so U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia granted it to Bagheri and his company at sentencing last week. The judge also fined Salsalito $500,000 and Bagheri $250,000.

Bagheri's lawyer, Jimmy Parks Jr., argued for the fines to be cut at least in half, saying they might hurt his client's ability to keep the popular eateries open.

During a huddle at the bench, the judge suggested that the government might forgive a portion of the fine if Bagheri paid a large chunk up front.

Prosecutors said the government and Parks would talk further about that suggestion, but it was unclear if they did. Parks, 61, died suddenly Sunday, collapsing while exercising, his family said.

Bagheri is the owner of Salsalito, which has two Mexican restaurant locations in San Antonio that were raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in May 2009. The agency deported 20 workers.

Bagheri admitted that he was aware that a number of employees were working without legal authorization, according to his plea deal.

The restaurant wasn't ordered to shut its doors as part of the deal.

Two kitchen managers, Angel Sotelo, 44, and Carlos Cossio Mendoza, whose age was unavailable, pleaded guilty to recruiting illegal workers and cooperated with agents, leading to Bagheri's guilty plea.

General manager Humberto Gonzalez, 40, and human resources manager Sylvia Luna, 33, also pleaded guilty. Sotelo, Gonzalez and Luna are scheduled for sentencing March 1.

Cossio was sentenced in November 2010 to the nearly two months he'd already spent in jail.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland