Martinez Builders Supply, operating under the name East Coast Trust (ECT), and Kelly Yanira Del Valle, 43, of Fort Pierce, Florida, were sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiring to harbor illegal aliens through employment in August and October 2024. Del Valle also pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and aiding in the filing of false tax returns.
ECT received a sentence of two years of probation, which includes the implementation of a corporate compliance program. Additionally, ECT was ordered to forfeit $450,000 to the United States and pay a $100,000 fine. Del Valle was sentenced to 13 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to forfeit $100,000 to the U.S. government, as well as pay $100,146 in restitution to the IRS.
Between June 2018 and August 2021, Del Valle, who was employed by ECT, and several of ECT’s officers and employees conspired to harbor migrants by means of employment. In June 2018, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted an audit of ECT, which revealed that dozens of ECT’s employees were undocumented migrants not authorized to work in the United States. To conceal and protect the undocumented migrants from HSI, Del Valle and several ECT officers and employees transferred these individuals from ECT’s payroll to the payroll of two shell companies. The migrants continued to work at ECT while being reported as employed and paid by these shell companies. ECT compensated Del Valle for each undocumented migrant she moved from ECT’s payroll to that of the shell companies.
From June 2018 to July 2021, ECT, through its agents and employees, transferred money to bank accounts operated by Del Valle in the names of the shell companies, specifically for the purpose of paying the undocumented migrants working at ECT.
On August 6, 2021, HSI agents discovered 28 undocumented migrants working at ECT’s headquarters in St. Lucie County.
The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael S. Davis for the Southern District of Florida, Acting Special Agent in Charge José R. Figueroa of HSI Miami, and Special Agent in Charge Emmanuel Gomez of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) in the Miami Field Office.
The HSI Fort Pierce Field Office and the IRS CI Miami Field 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 the Fort Pierce Police Department (FPPD). The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Porter.
Related court documents and further information can 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.
