Nov. 28, 2007 - An Indian immigrant who came to the U.S. to pursue a medical career, then wound up owning motels in Wisconsin, will spend nearly two years in federal prison for bringing other immigrants from Latin America to Wisconsin to work for him.

Siddhartha "Sam " Shah, 52, of Pleasant Prairie, told U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb that he "made a mistake " in taking part in a scheme to import four workers from Guatemala to his Super 8 motels in Wisconsin Dells and Pleasant Prairie, near Kenosha. Those workers have been deported and now Shah, who isn 't a U.S. citizen, also faces deportation after he has served a 21-month prison sentence handed down by Crabb.

"You went into this with your eyes wide open, knowing this was illegal, " Crabb told Shah, "undoubtedly to make it easier to run your motels. As you learned, it was not a smart solution to your problem. "

Crabb also ordered Shah to pay a $20,000 fine. She told him to report to prison Jan. 3.

As part of a scheme that ran from 2005 to 2007, Shah traveled to Guatemala and arranged to smuggle the workers to the U.S. One of the workers, working for Shah to pay off expenses he incurred in bringing her here, lived in a utility closet at one of his motels.

The indictment against Shah also said he arranged a $6,500 bond to free a worker who had been caught and detained in Texas after crossing the U.S. border.

Shah 's attorney, Patrick Cafferty, of Racine, asked that Shah receive credit for accepting responsibility by pleading guilty in August to one count of harboring an illegal immigrant, which allowed witnesses in the case who had been detained as illegal workers to be sent home.

But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Sinnott said Shah initially lied to investigators, and that required authorities to jail all of the illegal immigrants as material witnesses while the case was pending, rather than allowing them to be deported.

Jinesh "Mark " Jagaria, 36, of Wisconsin Dells, who managed the Super 8 in Wisconsin Dells, is awaiting sentencing on Dec. 11 after pleading guilty to his part in the scheme last month.

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