Resident Helping Brazilians Gets Year in Jail

Marcio Freitas, a Shrewsbury resident, was sentenced to a year in prison for helping Brazilians in to the United States by charging them $10,000 apiece to help them get work visas, as Shrewsbury Patch reported last June.

He was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court in Worcester, according to boston.com, and pleaded guilty to two counts of encouraging an illegal immigrant to come to or remain in the U.S.

According to boston.com, prosecutors in the case claim the Brazilian resident with permanent U.S. residency knew those he helped would violate their visas. Boston.com also said those he helped had visas to work for a landscaping company and 46 remained in the U.S. despite having expired visas.

According to the Telegram & Gazette, his lawyer said he was attempting to help people. His residency status, also, may be revoked.