Chan Duong sat in his house on Nov. 18, 2008, watching as agents searched throughout his home. Soon, they showed him more than $88,000 in cash that he had hidden in his basement, and that they had found while executing a federal search warrant.

    When those agents asked Duong where the money came from, he told them at first that it was from tips that he and his wife, Phung Ca (Polly) Long had received from the Peony restaurants in Vinton and Toledo, over the past 12 years.

     But as the interview went on, Duong wore down.

     “You catch me,” he told ICE agents Mike Vail and Christopher Cantrell. “I know it’s illegal.” He went on, according to an affidavit Cantrell later filed in federal court, to say he had “100 percent no choice,” – that sometimes because of a situation, you have to do what is bad to survive.

     Agents interviewed both Duong and Long that day about their hiring practices at the restaurants. Both told them that they obtained many of their employees through a Chicago-based employment agency. While some of those employees had “papers” – allowing them to work legally in the U.S. – many of them did not.

    Long told the investigators that the couple was able to operate their business legally for several years, relying on family members to staff the two restaurants. But when the family members were no longer available to work, they began relying on the agency. Long and Duong each admitted to investigators that they paid employees without papers in cash, following the recommendations of the employment agency.

    

Forfeiture finalized in court Tuesday, Nov. 30

     That money that was hidden in the basement until that day two years ago – part of more than 750,000 seized that day in search warrants executed at banks in Toledo and Vinton – is now officially the property of the U.S. Government. Both Long and Duong signed forfeiture agreements with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Those documents acknowledge that the funds in question are “traceable to specified unlawful activity – harboring illegal aliens.”

     The agreement that the couple signed and that the court approved on Tuesday allow the couple to keep their home in Vinton, as well as the restaurant building. But all of the cash will be turned over to the U.S. Treasury Asset Forfeiture Fund. Two vehicles and 56 pieces of jewelry which were also confiscated will be sold, with proceeds going into that same fund. The house was originally included in the forfeiture; the restaurant building was never considered for forfeiture.

    Duong has also forfeited homes in the Chicago and Los Angeles areas. Forfeiture of yet another house in the Orlando, Fla., area is still pending.

     The agreements signed Wednesday bring to a close the forfeiture of the following amounts of money and property:

  • $2,139 found at the Peony restaurant on Nov. 18, 2008;
  • $35,733.93 (bank account);
  • $12,163.19 (bank account);
  • $10,000  (safety deposit box);
  • $22,350 (safety deposit box);
  • $309,100 (safety deposit box);
  • $135,200 (safety deposit box);
  • $5,813 in Long’s purse;
  • $26,053.56 (bank account);
  • $88,728 at the couple’s Vinton home;
  • $61,306 (bank account);
  • $52,898 (bank account);
  • a 2009 Toyota Camry and a 2001 Toyota Tundra;
  • and 56 pieces of jewelry.

 

Editor's note to anonymous