Major charges dropped for metro area restaurant owners accused of forced labor

“They were separated from their kids, who were high school-aged. They had plans to open up a third restaurant in McDonough. That obviously didn’t happen, and their second location at Fairburn was shut down just based on the allegations,” their attorney, Thomas Church, told the AJC on Wednesday. “Their reputations took a huge hit. They were in federal jail for two years.”

Credit: Family Photo

Credit: Family Photo

All of those charges were dropped during the deal, with Efrain Gonzalez pleading guilty in late May to additional charges of conspiracy to employ unauthorized aliens and conspiracy to commit bulk cash smuggling. In August 2024, Estella Gonzalez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bringing in and harboring aliens. She was sentenced to time served, while her husband was sentenced to four years, with two of those already served. Church estimates Efrain Gonzalez will spend another year behind bars.

The conspiracy to commit bulk cash smuggling charge was related to Efrain Gonzalez giving money to someone who was a federal agent in Texas in 2016. That case was merged with the metro Atlanta one, Church said.

According to court documents and the DOJ, the couple was accused of bringing people to the U.S. from Mexico illegally and forcing them to work at their metro Atlanta restaurants without pay and live under poor conditions. Officials said the charges stemmed from a period between March 2021 and October 2022.

On Wednesday, Church said the federal government “completely dismissed the original indictment” after not presenting “a shred of evidence” related to the accusations of forced labor, alien smuggling or sexual abuse, which one victim alleged.

In a sentencing memo, the defense team argued the alleged victims had “conspired and coordinated” with each other to make the false allegations of human trafficking to get immigration status and other benefits. The memo also stated they used those benefits to recruit other former employees and that several of the alleged victims recanted their allegations.

“There’s only one explanation, which is we completely destroyed their case,” Church said. “There are categories of evidence that we obtained, like the wire transfer records or interviews with (the alleged victims’) friends or their family members or pictures of them right at a time when they said they were literally penned up in these trailers and not allowed to leave. (But) they’re out driving all over Atlanta, going to bars and restaurants.

“They would have had no chance at trial.”

Church said the case originated when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent received a complaint from two former disgruntled employees.

“Individual 2 contacted defense counsel and flatly denied that he was ever forced to work for Mr. Gonzalez, rent housing from him, or that he was ever threatened by him. Individual 2 also denied ever having to ‘escape’ Mr. Gonzalez’s restaurant, directly contradicting the government’s allegations,” the sentencing memo stated.

After presenting that evidence, Church said, “They’ve deliberately avoided talking to any of their alleged victims since.”

Still, the defense noted that Efrain Gonzalez did take shortcuts in life, like agreeing to act as a courier and delivering bulk cash to an undercover agent while trying to get his restaurant off the ground. He also agreed to hire undocumented workers, leading to the bulk cash smuggling and hiring illegal alien charges.

“The government offered to dismiss the charges in the indictment if the Gonzalezes agreed to plead guilty to lesser offenses, primarily offenses relating to hiring unauthorized aliens at their restaurant,” the memo stated. “Having served a year in pretrial detention, separated from their children, the Gonzalezes agreed.”