Couple indicted for illegal immigrant scheme

The owners of a Lake Forest employment agency were indicted Wednesday on charges that they deliberately recruited and hired illegal immigrants, mostly from the Philippines, and had them working at elderly care facilities in Orange County, including one in Newport Beach.

Wilfredo Ngo, 51, and his ex-wife Teresa Ngo, 49, are accused of recruiting, employing and harboring illegal immigrants and counseling others to marry into the country and then sending those immigrants out into the work force.

The Ngos own A-Plus Senior Planning Services Inc., an employment agency that provides caregivers to at least 10 major elder care centers in the county, including the Newport Beach Plaza in Newport Beach.

Managers at Newport Beach Plaza were unavailable for comment Wednesday.

The Ngos were indicted along with Gicela Sarabia, 43, an office manager at A-Plus Senior Planning Services.

All three are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court Monday.

— Joseph Serna