Brandon Woman Pleads Guilty to Harboring of Illegal Alien

Published 9:03 am Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Jackson, Miss. –  A Brandon woman pleaded guilty today to harboring an illegal alien for financial gain, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and Jack P. Stanton, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations’ New Orleans Field Office.

According to court documents, Iris Villalon, 45, of Brandon, Mississippi, operated Southern Knights Industrial Services which provided employee management and payroll services to A&B Inc, a poultry processing plant in Pelahatchie, Mississippi.  Villalon was charged with and pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the harboring of an illegal alien for financial gain as the owner of the employee management company.

Villalon is scheduled to be sentenced on August 19, 2021, and faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Murray.