Sunset Park immigration center gets restitution after employees cheated clients
Brooklyn DA gives $11K check after employees pleaded guilty
About a month and a half before the 2016 presidential election, the Brooklyn DA’s Office announced the indictment of a mother and daughter accused of cheating clients and embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from a Sunset Park immigration center. Now, at a time when the center’s schedule is booked until February and fear continues to rattle the country’s immigrant communities, District Attorney-elect Eric Gonzalez presented the organization with an $11,000 restitution check on Tuesday.
Gonzalez handed the money over to Rev. Ruskin Piedra, founder of the Juan Neumann Center, a nonprofit that offers immigration services out of Sunset Park’s Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
“I just couldn’t believe that eight years of absolute trust, that in one moment, everything could hit the ground,” said Piedra. “To this day, I’m not over it yet.”