Junta for Progressive Action
Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor 01/06/2006
MERIDEN — Desperate to obtain legal status, undocumented immigrants in Greater New Haven were ripped off to the tune of $150,000 in an alleged scam run out of Hamden by a New York woman who took their money and skipped town, never producing the promised paperwork.
Maria Agosto, 55, who maintained a residence for six months on Mix Avenue, was arraigned in Superior Court Thursday and charged with first-degree larceny and criminal impersonation after allegedly posing as an immigration official.
A sophisticated setup was described in an arrest warrant, alleging that dozens of people each week visited her apartment and were given different prices, depending on the difficulty of their cases, with clients arriving from as far away as New Jersey.
One Colombian native paid $25,000 to smooth the way for his family to obtain legal documentation, while some brought jewelry in addition to cash, the warrant said.
Agosto was extradited by Hamden police Wednesday from New York and was transferred to York Correctional Institution in East Lyme Thursday after failing to post $100,000 bail.
Agosto allegedly told her clients she was an immigration supervisor in New York and her husband was a retired police officer, neither of which was true.
The scheme was spread by word of mouth, and the victims were continually promised appointments with immigration officials, which would then be canceled.
This isn’t Agosto’s first encounter with authorities, having pleaded guilty to similar charges on three occasions from 1999 to 2001 in New York.
Agosto last week finished serving some seven months in New York for violating her probation when she failed to provide restitution to earlier victims, according to police.
Agosto will plead innocent at her next hearing, said her attorney, Diane Polan of New Haven, who felt the charges brought by the immigrants seeking phony paperwork could be "problematic."
"My question is, what is provable?" Polan said after the hearing Thursday.
Agosto was fingered by police after a cleaning woman, who worked for her, and who was an alleged victim, losing $2,000, agreed to file a complaint and assisted police in finding identification on Agosto in the Hamden apartment.
She and others came forward at the urging of Junta for Progressive Action in New Haven, a Latino advocacy group, according to Hamden Deputy Chief Tom Wydra. He said this is the biggest scam involving immigrants his department has worked on.
"We hadn’t seen a case of this magnitude that involved this much money and this many people," Wydra said. "It was more individual stuff, with people taking advantage of immigrants on a smaller scale."
The cleaning woman, identified only as Olga in court papers, said Thursday she wants Agosto brought to justice and will testify, if necessary, despite her lack of legal status.
The 31-year-old mother of two said she was nervous because others in the alleged scam know who she is. "They have my paperwork," she said.
Kica Matos, executive director of Junta, said she was grateful "the Hamden Police Department was extremely diligent in pursuing Ms. Agosto." The case stretched from September 2004 when Detective Sean Dolan began interviewing the alleged victims.
Matos estimated, based on interviews with Junta clients and Olga’s observations, that there were more than 100 victims of the scam, the majority of whom were afraid to come forward and testify to police because of their status.
"People in this community need to be aware of scams, and they shouldn’t succumb to illegal offers of anything because it inevitably comes to no good," Matos said.
Polan had argued for a reduction in bail to $50,000, saying Agosto suffered from myriad ailments, including a serious blood disorder, and she could stay with her son and daughter-in-law in Seymour.
Assistant State’s Attorney John Lion wanted bail raised to $200,000 given the "rather elaborate scheme" she is accused of running and the "significant number of people preyed upon."
Judge Nicola Rubinow kept bail at $100,000. "This was a crime that affected so many people," she said. Rubinow also felt Agosto was a flight risk.
Polan said it was "outrageous" that her client was held overnight Wednesday in the Hamden police lockup, rather than at York where she could have gotten necessary medical attention.
"She hasn’t had any medications in 36 hours," Polan said.
Wydra said police weren’t made aware of any medical issues, which would have been dealt with by the New York judge who approved her extradition.
"Whatever condition she had did not prevent her from being transported to Connecticut," Wydra said.
Matos said she hopes the case serves as a warning for both immigrants and criminals taking advantage of them.
"I hope this is a message for other people who potentially want to scam this community," she said.
Mary E. O’Leary can be reached at 789-5731 or moleary@nhregister.com .