By Gillian Graham
Staff Writer
    
Cancun II remains closed more than a week after federal agents raided the Biddeford restaurant and charged its owner with harboring and hiring illegal aliens.
Hector Fuentes, 37, owner of Cancun Mexican Restaurant in Waterville and Cancun II in Biddeford, was charged in federal court with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens and hiring unauthorized aliens from 2006 to 2011. His brother, Guillermo Fuentes, owner of Fajita Grill in Westbrook, was arrested on the same charges.
The arrests came after a Sept. 21 raid on the restaurants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Agents descended on the Biddeford restaurant on the morning of Sept. 21 and could be seen removing evidence before leading three handcuffed men to a waiting van.  
Hector Fuentes was released after his bail was set by Magistrate Judge John Rich III at $100,000 in property or $10,000 cash. Guillermo Fuentes, 35, remains in jail pending a bail hearing. Hector Fuentes had to surrender his passport and is not allowed contact with his brother.
A posting on the Facebook page for Cancun in Waterville said the Biddeford restaurant currently is closed and more information will be posted when it is available. The other two restaurants have reopened.
James Bell, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security, said in an affidavit filed in United States District Court, Immigration and Customs Enforcement began its investigation after Westbrook Police in 2008 encountered several Hispanic men during a routine traffic stop.
Bell said Westbrook police informed him the men were unable to provide any United State identification documents, claimed to be from Mexico and said they worked at Fajita Grill.
During the investigation, Bell interviewed four illegal aliens who worked for the Fuentes brothers at El Potrillo, a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta. They said they and other employees moved to Maine in 2006 to work for the Fuentes brothers first at Fajita Grill and later at the other restaurants, according to court records.
The illegal aliens told federal investigators they worked as many as 60 hours per week and were paid in cash or tips. They told investigators the Fuentes brothers either asked them to make up Social Security numbers or were not required to show proper paperwork, according to court records.
Three of the illegal aliens told investigators they lived in the basement of Fajita Grill with seven or eight other illegal workers when they first arrived in Maine. The workers and Fuentes brothers slept on cardboard boxes and blankets and used buckets of water to bathe, according to court records.
Bell said Richard F. Gouzie, Westbrook code enforcement officer, told him city officials discovered during a routine inspection evidence that someone was living in the basement. Guillermo Fuentes told Gouzie Fajita Grill employees used the basement to “rest,” according to court records.
The illegal aliens interviewed during the investigation are allowed to live and work in the U.S. while they cooperate with authorities. One has applied to become a legal resident and received a letter of immunity from the United States Attorney’s Office in exchange for cooperation and testimony, according to court records.
The United States Attorney’s Office also has indicated it does not intend to prosecute the other three illegal aliens for their presence and employment in the U.S., according to court records.
Conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, a felony, is punishable by as much as 10 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. The second charge, engaging in a practice of hiring unauthorized aliens, is punishable by up to six months in prison and up to $3,000 in fines for each unauthorized alien.  

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 220.