Ex-Thatched Cottage boss gets 6 years for deportation threats 

A federal judge sentenced a former manager of the Thatched Cottage in Centerport to 6 years in prison Wednesday for threatening to deport Filipino nationals he employed unless they worked long hours and even without pay.

Robert Villanueva, 65, of Huntington, has been jailed since his arrest in 2017 and pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiracy and forced labor charges.

Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert ordered him to serve a total of 72 months in prison during the sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Central Islip. The judge also sentenced him to 5 years of supervised probation.

Villanueva worked as a recruiter and manager for the Thatched Cottage, the former catering hall, which was shuttered in 2014 after declaring bankruptcy. It later reopened as the Water’s Edge wedding venue under new management.

He admitted in his guilty plea that he brought workers from the Philippines on H-2B visas that expired shortly after they arrived. He then encouraged workers to apply for student visas and falsely claimed they were able to support themselves while attending school, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Villanueva later admitted he was working with the former owner of the Thatched Cottage, Ralph Colamussi, and deposited funds in the workers’ bank accounts to give the appearance they were able to support themselves. But instead, Villanueva and Colamussi withdrew the funding after student visas were approved, prosecutors said. They lured workers abroad from 2008 to 2013 and offered meager wages and at one point didn’t pay workers for a period of six weeks, Colamussi admitted in his plea.

Colamussi, 68, pleaded guilty in September 2018 and is scheduled to be sentenced Friday. He was ordered to pay restitution and faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Prosecutors said Villanueva and Colamussi forced workers to finish consecutive shifts and if they complained about not being paid on time, he threatened to hurt them, report them to immigration authorities or threaten their families in the Philippines.

“Villanueva exploited his victims’ immigration status, promising them the American dream, but instead threatening arrest or deportation if they didn’t work 16 hours a day, often unpaid, sleeping on bug infested mattresses covered in garbage bags, without heat or hot water,” said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “This sentence highlights our Office’s commitment to bringing abusers to justice.”

Authorities said the sentencing was part of the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to battle human trafficking.

“Villanueva knowingly manipulated these workers using bait-and-switch tactics to coerce and control them, forcing them to live in squalid conditions with a constant threat of physical harm if they failed to comply with his ever-escalating demands," said acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Alfonso  for Homeland Security Investigations in New York. “Today’s sentencing sends a strong message that human lives are not commodities and these workers deserved dignity and respect.”