OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The owner of a San Francisco Bay area restaurant chain has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for hiring undocumented immigrants.

      Besides the 41 months in prison, El Balazo restaurants owner Marino Sandoval must pay more than $2 million restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

      His wife, Nicole Sandoval, was placed on five years' probation.

      The couple pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring more than 100 illegal immigrants to work at their 11 taquerias, using phony Social Security numbers and filing false tax returns.
      

      
      (Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)