SAN ANTONIO – Delia’s Tamales locations in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley were the focus of FBI raids earlier this week.
The raids came as Delgar Foods LLC, the restaurants’ parent company, is facing a wages lawsuit.
KSAT asked Ricardo Gonzalez, an attorney representing former Delia’s Tamales employees if the lawsuit is related to this week’s FBI raids.
“I (would) be speculating if they were involved somehow,” Gonzalez told KSAT.
Gonzalez is representing 27 former Delia’s Tamales employees in a civil lawsuit.
The former employees claimed that the restaurant chain created fake social security numbers to hire undocumented employees.
“They had deductions from their paychecks for social security, and those deductions — while they were taken from the paychecks — were not deposited into an account for them,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez also said that his clients worked overtime but were never paid for it.
“They’re preying on people who, again, don’t have legal status, and it’s disgusting,” Gonzalez said.
Although Gonzalez did not want to speculate if the FBI raids were somehow connected to his client’s lawsuit, he did not rule it out.
KSAT asked an FBI spokesperson about Wednesday’s raids. The agency said, in part, that it was “performing court-authorized law enforcement activity.”
No further information has been made available.
“The case is set for trial in February of next year, so between now and then, we are going to be taking depositions and exchanging information,” Gonzalez said.
KSAT called and emailed the attorneys representing Delia’s Tamales on Friday but has not heard back.
