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Grand jury indicts staffing operation

December 12, 2008

A grand jury indicted a six-person group who operated staffing firms in western Pennsylvania and Ohio, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania announced this week.

The group contracted out more than 100 workers who were "out-of-status" aliens, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. "Out-of-status" means the workers entered the country legally but either overstayed their visas or whose visas did not permit employment.

In addition, the group faces charges of laundering their profits in the operation, tax evasion and conspiracy, according to the office.

The incidents occurred between 1998 and 2006, and the staffing businesses had revenue of approximately $6.9 million with almost $5.0 million going to the workers, according to the indictment.

Named in the indictment are Yaroslav Rochniak of Brooklyn, Gregory Kucher of Brooklyn, Roman Kucher of Lakewood OH, Alexander Litt of Miami, Roman Litt of Staten Island and Yakov Shakhanov of Delray Beach FL.

The names of firms they operated include ARRA Inc., Sweepsmart Inc., ARD First Inc., Citiwide Management Group, Bazil Services Inc., Citiwide MNGM Group Inc. and Monro Services Inc., according to the indictment.

If convicted, the defendants could face between five and 20 years in prison per count with the indictment containing 37 counts, according the U.S. Attorney's Office. They could also face fines of between $250,000 and $500,000 per count.