4 visa fraud suspects appear in federal court

Four men associated with a local law firm accused of helping foreign nationals and Utah employers in obtaining visas through fraud appeared in federal court Wednesday to deny the charges against them.

Associates of the Alcala Law Firm and Westside Property Management, including the firm's owner, James Hector Alcala, 41, made their first appearance in U.S. District Court to formally face charges of conspiracy and visa fraud.

In addition to Alcala, Carlos Vorher, 43, a former U.S. Border Patrol agent; Andres Acosta Parra, 31, a former visa assistant for the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; and Gustavo Ballesteros-Munoz, 45, appeared in court. All four men entered pleas of not guilty.

Alcala and Vorher are charged with conspiracy, which carries a maximum of up to five years in prison. Alcala also faces 12 counts of visa fraud, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Vorher and Parra also face two counts of visa fraud, and Ballesteros-Munoz faces one count.

In court, U.S. District Magistrate Judge David Nuffer ordered the four men released on GPS ankle monitors pending resolution of the case. Nuffer ordered the men to have no contact with each other, or with potential witnesses. Alcala's wife, Janet Alcala, was exempted from that order. The men are also not allowed to travel outside of the state without prior permission and must surrender their passports.

Outside of court Alcala's attorney, Susanne Gustin, said there is a significant amount of evidence provided by the government that her office needs to go through. Prosecutors say there have been some issues involving attorney-client privilege that they have had to work through in processing the evidence in the case.

A status conference has been scheduled for Aug. 7.

Four other people associated with the law firm have also been indicted. Carlos Enrique Gomez-Alvarez, 41, appeared in federal court in New York Wednesday morning, a day after being arrested. According to federal officials, Alvarez was arrested while he was in the process of taking the New York state bar exam. Daniel Trigo Villavicencio, 30, was also arrested Wednesday in Texas.

Two others, Florentino Jose Ayala Villarreal, 39, and Olga Adriana Garza Muniz, 47, remain in Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Parkinson said his office is currently working with Mexican officials to seek their arrest.