(Court Reports – Photo Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)
CHARLESTON — A Parkersburg man pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of continuing to employ an immigrant living in the country illegally.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, John Robert Coe, 66, of Parkersburg, co-owned a business with Frederick Sayre Anderson at which a foreign national from Madagascar worked from 2011 to May 2021.
The release said Coe admitted in court he learned at some point in 2011 that the woman’s presence in the United States was unlawful but she continued to work at the business, described as a laboratory that provides water quality testing kits to state and local government entities around the country.
The foreign national slept at the business in an office converted to a bedroom, the release said. The business had no shower or bathing facilities but Coe permitted the woman to bathe at his residence.
The woman shipped supplies to customers, received customer service calls and handled the company’s accounts receivable, the release said. Coe also paid the woman in cash for side jobs like cleaning his residence and editing book manuscripts he was preparing for publication.
“John was the minority shareholder in a company that employed an alien that turned out to be illegal,” Coe’s attorney, George Cosenza, said Wednesday. “He had no authority to write checks or make decisions.”
Cosenza said his client gave the woman extra money, bought her groceries and took her on errands because he “felt sorry for this woman and was trying to be kind to her.”
On May 12, 2021, the foreign national permanently left the business with the assistance of federal authorities, the release said..
Coe is scheduled to be sentenced on May 5 and faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a $3,000 fine. He has agreed to pay $54,740 in restitution.
Anderson, 64, of Parkersburg, pleaded guilty in January 2024 to concealing, harboring and shielding an alien from detection and awaits sentencing.
U.S. Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations, the West Virginia State Police and the Parkersburg Police Department.
U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston presided over the hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan T. Storage is prosecuting the case.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com
