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Restaurant Manager in Brewer Gets Prison Time for Immigration Violations

BANGOR, Maine (AP) _ The former manager of a Chinese restaurant in Brewer has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for hiring workers that were in the U.S. illegally.

Mei Ya Zhang of Waterville was also ordered Tuesday in federal court in Bangor to pay $88,000 in restitution to the IRS.

The 29-year-old Zhang pleaded guilty last year to charges including "harboring undocumented aliens," money laundering and conspiracy to file false tax returns.

Prosecutors say while manager of Twin Super Buffet, Zhang made workers in the U.S. illegally work six days per week, sometimes more than 10 hours per day, housed them in squalid conditions, and paid them cash under the table.

Twin Super Buffet has since closed.