FLORENCE - A two-year investigation into the use of illegal aliens in the Northern Kentucky home-building trade expanded Thursday with the arrest of a Florence contractor.
Federal immigration officials charged Robert Pratt with harboring illegal aliens and providing them employment for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.
Pratt, who remained in the custody of U.S. Marshals Thursday, will appear in U.S. District Court in Covington this afternoon.
Federal affidavits tie Pratt and his companies - Progressive Builders and Pratt's Quality Construction - to Crestview Hills-based Fischer Homes, one of the region's largest builders.
Four Fischer construction site supervisors were charged Tuesday with harboring illegal aliens, or aiding and abetting the act, as federal immigration officials detained 76 suspected illegal aliens who were allegedly working for Pratt.
Fischer Homes President Robert Hawksley has repeatedly said his company does not employ illegal aliens and that he was "working with the authorities to get the facts."
Federal affidavits state Fischer initially retained Pratt's companies to help build homes at the Tree Top subdivision in Hebron and Tara subdivision in the Plantation Pointe development in Florence.
Pratt employed illegal aliens, designated them as subcontractors, and had them hire additional illegal aliens that labored under the eye of Fischer construction superintendents, according to an affidavit signed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent James Bellamy.
"Pratt's designation of his workers as subcontractors and his practice of paying them as independent contractors is a common tactic used to conceal, harbor and shield undocumented alien workers," Bellamy wrote in the affidavit.
It states the construction superintendents had a telephone number to reach Pratt directly, indicating that they were aware of Pratt's business structure.
No one answered the door at the companies, located at 7529 Sussex Dr., on Wednesday or Thursday.
E-mail jhannah@nky.com