The owner of a Phoenix taco truck pleaded not guilty on Friday afternoon to federal charges related to harboring and employing undocumented immigrants in his businesses after he was arrested earlier this month.
Blademir Angulo Audeves, 42, is the owner of El Taco Loko, which he runs with his wife and son, Flor and Amir Angulo. The business, which started in 2017, has a brick-and-mortar restaurant in west Phoenix and has expanded its presence during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Valley through a food trailer set up in Laveen and a tricked-out taco bus in Goodyear.
In a three-minute hearing on Friday afternoon, Angulo Audeves, sporting an orange jumpsuit with a long-sleeve, stained, loose white shirt underneath, stood in front of Judge John Boyle with his attorney, Nicholas Bustamante. Shackles were around his hands and waist. He also wore black wired earbuds as a translator recited the hearing in Spanish into his ears…