http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/15669992.htm

Posted on Tue, Oct. 03, 2006

$12 million forfeiture part of pleas in illegal alien labor case


Associated Press

CINCINNATI - Three people and the temporary labor companies they ran in Ohio and Tennessee pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to charges of using more than 1,000 illegal aliens to sort air freight over several years.

All had been named in July in a 40-count indictment alleging that they encouraged and enabled illegal aliens - most from Mexico - to work at the ABX Air Inc. hub in Wilmington, about 40 miles northeast of Cincinnati.

Guilty pleas were entered in U.S. District Court by Garcia Labor Company Inc. of Morristown, Tenn.; Garcia Labor Company of Ohio Inc., based in Wilmington; Maximino Garcia, 43, president and co-owner of both companies; Dominga McCarroll, 43, his sister and former vice president of the two companies; and Gina Luciano, 40, director of human relations for Garcia Labor in Tennessee.

All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to induce, aid and abet illegal aliens to reside or remain in the United States for commercial or private gain.

No date was set for sentencing. Each could be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $250,000. The companies could be penalized $500,000 or twice the gain received from the crime.

Maximino Garcia's plea agreement also calls for him to forfeit $12 million in proceeds from the operation.

Prosecutors said Garcia's companies contracted with ABX to sort freight at Wilmington Air Park from 1999 until January 2005. During part of that time, the companies housed workers and helped them submit fraudulent application forms and cash paychecks, prosecutors said.

A woman who answered the telephone at Garcia's Morristown, Tenn., office said she had no instructions on how to refer a call for comment from the company.