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Charges dropped against woman in Nathan Cooper caseThursday, October 25, 2007The Philippine-born businesswoman accused of selling immigration documents to former state representative Nathan Cooper won't face federal charges. Federal prosecutors last week filed to dismiss the single felony count in the indictment against Omega Paulite, who was arrested in Seattle in August soon after Cooper pleaded guilty to two felony counts of immigration fraud. A message left at the U.S. attorney's office in St. Louis seeking comment on the dismissal was not returned. Paulite, who was represented by the St. Louis law firm of Bryan Cave LLP, had been fighting the charges with the claim that her actions did not break the law. Paulite was accused of selling "notice of approval" documents for workers entering the United States under a guest worker program for seasonal or temporary workers. Cooper admitted obtaining visas for foreign truck drivers engaged in permanent employment under the seasonal worker program and to establishing shell companies to hide their true employers. But Paulite attorney Gabriel Gore filed paperwork claiming that the law doesn't bar Paulite from selling approval notices. The approval notices themselves, Gore argued, are not documents required for entry into the United States. The approval notices are sent to prospective employers who seek to hire foreign workers, he wrote. Foreign workers must obtain the work visa or other document that allows them entry into the country. Another factor in Paulite's favor, Gore wrote, is that she sold the documents to Cooper, who at the time was a practicing immigration lawyer who regularly dealt with such documents. To convict, Gore wrote in the court filing, the sale would have had to be to someone not authorized to receive the documents. Cooper, who pleaded guilty Aug. 9, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 21. He is expected to receive a term of 30 to 37 months in federal prison. Cooper, a Republican, resigned his House seat Aug. 14 and has had his law license suspended by the Missouri Supreme Court. The special election to fill the remainder of Cooper's term in office will be held Feb. 5. 335-6611, extension 126 Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
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Wasn't Nathan getting a deal since he squeeled to the feds about Pauline. Since it now looks like she did not break the law, will Nathan still get a deal?
I'm quite sure that is not the only reason he got a deal.
Bryan Cave, LLC wields a lot of power in D.C. That probably helped her more than anything else.
How come nothing else has been done to the trucking co. involved in Sikeston? I believe the owner is on the city council there. Maybe he threatened to pull his company out of town and leave the ice cream plant without a way to ship their product if anything is put in the paper in Sikeston.
Where is Vernon Vercose these days?
she broke the law. she is being let off the hook on a technicality.