St. Lucie County company and woman sentenced for conspiring to harbor aliens by means of employment

MIAMI – On Jan. 24, Martinez Builders Supply, d/b/a East Coast Trust (ECT) and Kelly Yanira Del Valle, 43, of Fort Pierce, Florida, were sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiring to harbor aliens by means of employment in August and October 2024. Del Valle also pleaded guilty for filing false tax returns and aiding the filing of false tax returns. 

ECT was sentenced to two years of probation, to include the implementation of a corporate compliance program, ordered to forfeit $450,000 to the United States and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. Del Valle was sentenced to 13 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, ordered to forfeit $100,000 to the United States and to pay $100,146 in restitution to the IRS. 

From June 2018 through August 2021, Del Valle, who was employed by ECT at the time, along with several of ECT’s officers and employees, conspired to harbor migrants by means of employment. In June 2018, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) law enforcement agents conducted an audit of ECT. The audit revealed that dozens of ECT’s employees were migrants, who were not authorized to work in the United States. To conceal, harbor, and shield the undocumented migrants from HSI, Del Valle and several of ECT’s officers and employees, transferred the undocumented migrants from ECT’s payroll to the payroll of two shell companies. The undocumented migrants continued to work at ECT while purportedly being employed and paid by the shell companies. ECT paid Del Valle a fee for each undocumented migrant that she transferred from ECT’s to the shell companies’ payroll.

Between June 2018 and July 2021, ECT, through its agents and employees, transferred money to bank accounts operated by Del Valle in the name of the shell companies for the express purpose of paying the undocumented migrants who worked at ECT. 

On Aug. 6, 2021, HSI law enforcement agents discovered 28 undocumented migrants working at ECT’s headquarters in St. Lucie County.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael S. Davis for the Southern District of Florida, Acting Special Agent in Charge José R. Figueroa Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami and Special Agent in Charge Emmanuel Gomez of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement. 

The HSI Fort Pierce Field Office and IRS CI Miami Filed Office investigated the case with assistance from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), U.S. Border Patrol Miami Sector, U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, and Fort Pierce Police Department (FPPD). Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Porter prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case numbers 24-cr-14019 and 24-cr-14035.

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