Couple pleads guilty to harboring illegal aliens, money laundering

His wife, Ines Hoyos-Solano, 60, of Germantown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and faces a maximum 20 years in prison.

The Solanos also were ordered to forfeit substantial sums derived from their activities, including $7.2 million in bank accounts, vehicles, jewelry and investment properties from Francisco Solano and $1.5 million in cash found in Ines Solano’s bedroom during a search by law enforcement officials on July 12, 2007. The properties ‹ three in Wheaton, two in Silver Spring, one in Kensington and one in Arlington, Va. ‹ were used to harbor illegal aliens.

The plea said proceeds from the employment of illegal aliens were transferred from business accounts to Hoyos-Solano’s personal accounts and she also allowed Francisco Solano to use that money to purchase a $120,000 life insurance policy in their names.

Francisco Solano and Ines Hoyos-Solano join Consuelo Solano, 70, and her brother Juan Faustino Solano, 59, who both pleaded guilty June 11 to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Juan Solano also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor aliens.

From January 1999 to July 2007, Francisco Solano harbored illegal aliens — some worked at El Pollo Rico — at residences he owned in Wheaton and Kensington, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

Additionally, the release said more than $6 million in cash proceeds from the restaurant was deposited in an El Pollo Rico business account and transferred to the co-defendants’ personal accounts between 2002 and 2007.

Deposits to the business account were kept under $10,000 so they would not trigger legal reporting requirements, according to the guilty plea. The money was then transferred to the personal accounts and withdrawn in larger amounts. Money was used to buy property, jewelry and vehicles.

Francisco Solano will receive an “enhanced sentence“ due to his leadership role in managing and organizing the criminal activity, according to the plea agreement.

As part of the plea, Francisco Solano and Hoyos-Solano will negotiate a ‘‘closing agreement“ with the Internal Revenue Service to resolve unpaid taxes from 2000 to 2007. Both defendants face up to three years of supervised release after serving their sentences and fines of up to $500,000, according to their guilty pleas.

Francisco Solano’s attorney Timothy Sullivan and Hoyos-Solano’s attorney J. Dennis Murphy Jr. could not be reached for comment on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has scheduled sentencing for Francisco Solano and for Hoyos-Solano on Nov. 24. Sentencing for Consuelo Solano is scheduled for Sept. 24. Juan Solano is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 29.