Novi Restaurant Owner Charged With Harboring 5 Undocumented Workers Who Died in Fire

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The owner of Kim's Garden restaurant in Novi and his wife have been charged with harboring five undocumented immigrants,  who ended up dying in a fire at a home the couple owned, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit announces Friday. 

Roger Tam, 55, and his wife, Ada Lei, 48, of Novi were charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

A probe in to the matter was launched after five undocumented Mexican nationals, who worked at the restaurant,  died as a result of a Jan. 31 fire. Authorities say the employees had entered the U.S. in the last six months.

The criminal complaint alleges that Tam hired the Mexican nationals to work at Kim’s Garden and provided them housing in the Novi home that he and his wife own.  The workers were transported to and from the restaurant, as a condition of their employment, authorities said.

The criminal complaint  alleges that Tam told a Novi detective at the scene of the fire that the deceased employees were paid cash and lived in the basement of the home, where smoke detectors had been disabled.

“What warranted this investigation was senseless on so many counts; from the tragic loss of five lives to the skirting of our nation’s immigration system," Novi Police Chief David Molloy says in a statement. "In all my years of law enforcement, I have never witnessed such blatant disregard for respect of human life."