Thread: North Dakota man pleads guilty in illegal immigration case

By DAVE KOLPACK - Associated Press - Monday, March 30, 2015

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - One of two people accused of recruiting workers living in the country illegally to help at a vegetable processing plant in North Dakota pleaded guilty Monday to a federal felony charge.

Prosecutors say Richard Shearer, 57, was hired as a consultant to help improve efficiency and supply labor for the KIDCO Farms plant in Dawson. He allegedly recruited about two-dozen illegal workers in Arizona in 2013 and brought them to North Dakota.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Healy said the company didn’t want the workers driving so they were transported to and from work in a van and driven to nearby Bismarck on occasion to buy groceries. The company found housing for the workers, who were prohibited from using alcohol or drugs on the premises.

Healy said the workers were being paid $9 or $10 an hour, but the company deducted $1 per hour for rent and 25 cents an hour for daily transportation.

Shearer’s attorney, Lorelle Moeckel, said in court that her client does not dispute the allegations, but added said the events were not as orchestrated as described by the government. Rather, she said, it was a situation that spiraled out of control.

Moeckel was not immediately available for comment after the hearing and did not respond to a request for comment.

Shearer has signed a plea agreement that calls for him to pay back $20,000 in illegal proceeds. The charge calls for a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, but the plea deal calls for the government to recommend a sentence at the low end of guidelines because of Shearer’s cooperation.

Moeckel told the court she and her client have been negotiating “for a long time.”

Monte Benz, an executive at the plant, also is charged in the case. He is scheduled to appear in court April 9. His attorney, Mark Western, did not respond Monday to requests for comment.

Sentencing for Shearer is scheduled for June 29.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...egal-immigrat/

Prosecutors say Richard Shearer, 57, was hired as a consultant to help improve efficiency and supply labor for the KIDCO Farms plant in Dawson. He allegedly recruited about two-dozen illegal workers in Arizona in 2013 and brought them to North Dakota.

How about that? Went all the way to Arizona to recruit illegal workers. He should have gone to Chicago and recuited unemployed American Workers. I told you the "internet" is not how employers fills jobs in remote areas. They have to recruit workers, even illegal alien workers, even out of state. If employers worked as hard recruiting American workers as they do scheming and plotting to find illegal workers, everyone would be better off.

I really don't know why the guy was given a "plea deal", he broke federal law willfully and intentionally to cheat American workers, so he should go to prison for a long time. Oh wait, that would be unfair since no one else goes to prison for these crimes, do they? Are the illegal aliens going to prison? They should, they're the ones here in violation of our laws, conspiring to get jobs they aren't supposed to have and tempting poor saps like this one to hire them.

I cannot say for certain what I feel the solution to this plant's labor problem was going to be. Yes I advocate loudly for the advancement of American labor, the deportment of aliens, and a secured border. That said, I will comment more on this story and labor problems in N.D.

First off, a vegetable processor likely did not pay more than a living wage. Second, fracking and shale oil made a labor boon in N.D. and was offering 100 thousand a year jobs. North Dakota is a small state in normal population size. Labor had to be attracted from other areas and quickly (the oil fields have housing shortages galore) oil field was an attractive place to work, even for short term. So, the veggie plant could not compete with those wages, no question. That is the reason they took the illegals to town to shop. Had they not controlled them, they would have soon been working in the oil fields for a salary of five times the veggie plant wages. Had the veggie plant recruited Americans from Chicago, Des Moines or Kansas City, soon those Americans would have found those oil fields. Less than 20% likely would have stayed at the 20K job.

A boom is wonderful in some respects, but hell on local employers at the same time. How to apply moderation in this instance seems to escape me.