Hall’s Former Owner, Manager Indicted On Labor, Fraud Charges

Ralph Colamussi, inset, owner of the now-shuttered Thatched Cottage, above, was indicted Monday, along with former manager of the hall, Roberto Villanueva, not pictured, on federal charges of forced labor and fraud. Long Islander News photos/archives

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

 The U.S. attorney’s office announced Monday that both the former owner and manager of the Thatched Cottage catering hall in Centerport have been indicted on federal charges of forced labor and fraud.

Former Thatched Cottage owner Ralph Colamussi, 61, of East Northport, and the catering hall’s manager Roberto Villanueva, 60, a citizen of the Philippines who lives in Glen Head, were arrested and charged on Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York for six counts ranging from forced labor charges to visa fraud conspiracy, officials said.

The grand jury indictment alleges that between August 2008 and March 2013 Colamussi and Villanueva engaged in a scheme to entice workers to emigrate from the Philippines to work in the Thatched Cottage with false promises about jobs with good pay.

The workers from the Philippines were able to enter the country on H-2B temporary worker visas, the indictment states. Colamussi and Villanueva illegally made the perspective workers pay in advance for help obtaining these visas, and then instructed them to lie about payments during visa interviews with government officials, according to the indictment.

Once in the U.S., the Filipino workers were forced to work at various positions in Thatched cottage for low wages and care for Colamussi’s relatives, including his father, according to information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“As alleged, Colamussi and Villanueva lured immigrants from the Philippines to the United States with false promises regarding jobs and overtime pay in order to line their own pockets at the expense of the victims,” Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde said in a statement issued Monday.

When workers’ H-2B visas expired, Colamussi and Villanueva deposited funds in bank accounts to allow workers to fraudulently obtain student visas, or Colamussi moved workers with expired visas into the basement of his East Northport home so they could continue to work for him off the books, according to a report released by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement.

The grand jury indictment alleges that Colamussi and Villanueva used threats of violence and deportation to intimidate the illegal workers.

The court document states that Colamussi told a female worker that the other workers from the Philippines would get harassed and suffer if she left her job, while Villanueva told workers that the police and ICE would come after them if they tried to find another job.

Colamussi operated the Thatched Cottage in Centerport for three decades before filing for bankruptcy in January 2014. Before the bankruptcy auction later that year, Colamussi was found unconscious and doused in gasoline in a van parked in a Huntington village parking lot. Officials at the time said it was an apparent suicide attempt, but Colamussi reportedly later denied that claim.

If convicted Colamussi and Villanueva could face up to 20 years for the forced labor charges, 10 years for visa fraud and five years for conspiracy to commit visa fraud, officials said. Colamussi also faces criminal forfeiture of the East Northport home where workers lived in the basement.