A St. Lucie County company, along with an individual, have been sentenced following a guilty plea regarding conspiracy to harbor undocumented workers. Martinez Builders Supply, doing business as East Coast Trust (ECT), and Kelly Yanira Del Valle, 43, of Fort Pierce, will face financial penalties and imprisonment in Del Valle's case. This follows their admissions in October and August 2024, respectively. ECT was handed a sentence that includes two years of probation and a requirement for a corporate compliance program, while Del Valle received 13 months behind bars, which is to be followed by a three-year supervised release, as per U.S. Attorney's Office.
Del Valle, who was employed by ECT, additionally pled guilty to charges related to filing false tax returns. Working with ECT's officers and employees from June 2018 through August 2021, Del Valle engaged in schemes to keep undocumented migrants employed, while attempting to cloak these actions using shell companies. In June 2018, a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) audit of ECT uncovered, dozens of ECT's employees were revealed to be migrants without work authorization. According to the Department of Justice, these workers were illicitly shifted from ECT's payroll to that of the fabricated entities.
The sentencing concludes a period where ECT, through various intermediaries, funneled money into bank accounts controlled by Del Valle under the shell companies' names. This was intended purely for the remittance of the undocumented employees' wages. As part of the sentence, ECT was ordered to forfeit $450,000 to the United States and pay a $100,000 fine. Del Valle is ordered to forfeit $100,000 and pay $100,146 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). On Aug. 6, 2021, when HSI agents came upon 28 undocumented migrants working at ECT's headquarters in St. Lucie County, the deception came to a head.
The case was investigated by the HSI Fort Pierce Field Office and IRS CI Miami Field Office, among other agencies. It was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael S. Davis for the Southern District of Florida, along with senior officials from HSI Miami and IRS-CI. Court documents related to the case, as articulated by the aforementioned entities, can be found online at the Southern District of Florida's website or through the PACER system under case numbers 24-cr-14019 and 24-cr-14035.
