A former San Luis Obispo County restaurant owner who was convicted of elder abuse in 2015 now faces federal charges in Arizona.
Last week, federal agents swarmed five Colt Grill locations in Arizona and Alabama, which were all owned by former San Luis Obispo County residents Robert and Brenda Clouston.
Robert Clouston was convicted of elder abuse in San Luis Obispo County a decade ago.
He was found guilty of taking property in Templeton out of an elderly woman's trust.
He took out two loans for $500,000 on the property and used them for his own benefit — including paying rent for his three Central Coast restaurants.
Now, he, his wife Brenda, and two undocumented employees are all facing federal charges.
"The owners of this business, according to the indictment, recruited aliens, that is, Mexican citizens, to come across the border for a financial purpose," said Josh Kolsrud, a Former Federal Prosecutor.
The 10-page indictment states that the Cloustons allegedly "avoided paying an accurate minimum wage, time-and-a-half wage, and required taxes in an amount beneficial to them between at least approximately September 27, 2022, and June 2024."
“The businesses won't have to pay the appropriate taxes on those wages," said Kolsrud. "So they're saving money on two different fronts, one with payroll and the second with taxes with the U.S. and state governments, so that there's a lot of financial incentives to try to cheat the government in this aspect.”
The indictment further alleges that the Cloustons established a fake cleaning company — R&R AZ Cleaning LLC — as a shell entity to funnel under-the-table cash payments to some employees, bypassing wage laws and shielding the transactions from Colt Grill’s official accounting.
It also states that the Cloustons deliberately avoided using E-Verify, the federally mandated system used by employers to confirm an individual’s legal authorization to work in the U.S.
Instead, investigators say the couple recruited Mexican nationals to work in their restaurants.
"If somebody came in and basically came from some other country with no documents and has nothing in process, and they are simply living here, they are not authorized to work," said Ally Bolour, an Immigration Attorney with Bolour/Carl Immigration Group. "The reality is that these are actually US groups that victimize immigrants to make money."
Prosecutors say U.S. citizens working at the restaurants were, at times, fired and replaced with undocumented workers willing to accept lower pay and no overtime.
The Cloustons and the two undocumented employees are charged with 5 counts.
- Knowingly employing unauthorized aliens
- Conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens for profit
- Conspiracy to transport illegal aliens
- Conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens
- Conspiracy to encourage and induce an illegal alien to unlawfully enter the U.S.
At a detention hearing Monday morning in Flagstaff, Ariz., Brenda Clouston was released until the trial begins.
As for the other three defendants, they will remain in federal custody until their detention hearings next week.
The initial jury trial setting is scheduled for September 2.
