State representative’s husband charged in immigrant investigation

(AP) A state representative’s husband – a member of the state Democratic Party’s central committee – and his business manager hired illegal immigrants from Trinidad to refurbish offshore piping, a federal indictment alleges.

Prosecutors say Lenny J. Dartez and his business manager, Kenneth J. Morrison, should forfeit two company vans allegedly used to take workers to and from job sites for Winston Service Contractors and Cobra Contractors, according to the indictment.

Dartez, husband of state Rep. Carla Dartez, D-Morgan City, denied wrongdoing after his arrest last month.

The investigation began earlier this year when federal agents responded to a tip that illegal immigrants were allegedly working for Lenny Dartez and living in a group of mobile homes in Amelia, according to court documents.

The agents detained five Trinidad nationals in May, three of them on their way to work in a van registered to Winston Service Contractors. Most of the workers had traveled to the U.S. on tourist visas, court documents said.

Morrison told agents that all of the men had provided Social Security numbers, but a former office worker alleged that Lenny Dartez and Morrison knew the immigrants were illegal and processed their payroll information separately from other employees, according to the documents.

The indictment states that the Trinidadian employees had not been reported to the state and federal departments of labor or revenue.

Immigration removal proceedings have begun against the five workers, but federal agents have filed court documents to hold one of the immigrants to secure his testimony.

Carla Dartez is running for her third term as state representative in a runoff against challenger Joe Harrison.