Springfield, Ill. - The prior owner of a buffet restaurant at 1774 Wabash Avenue, in Springfield, Illinois, which operated as Buffet City, was sentenced today for harboring illegal aliens, as announced by Rodger A. Heaton, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. U.S. District Judge Jeanne E. Scott sentenced Xian XiYe, 41, of the 2700 block of Kipling Drive, Springfield, Illinois, to 18 months in prison and ordered the defendant pay a fine of $2,500 within one year. Xi Ye appeared in federal court in Springfield via video connection from the Federal Medical Center in South Carolina.

Xi Ye had pled guilty on September 4, 2007, to providing housing, employment and transportation to illegal aliens to work at Buffet City.

The charges were the result of a criminal worksite investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Chesley.

Sentencing for Xi Ye’s co-defendant, Xiang Hui Ye, 29, former co-owner and manager of the restaurant, is scheduled on January 31, 2008. Hui Ye was convicted in October 2007 following a jury trial of harboring and employing illegal aliens at the restaurant.