By Lauren Pack

Staff Writer
http://www.middletownjournal.com
Saturday, September 22, 2007
4 enter guilty pleas in illegal immigration cases


HAMILTON — Twenty alleged illegal immigrants arrested last month in a raid on Koch Foods in Fairfield appeared last week in various Butler County Common Pleas courtrooms.

Four entered guilty pleas. Others are awaiting trial or another hearing.

The 12 men and eight women who are charged with forgery and identity fraud were indicted by a Butler County grand jury on Sept. 7 before scheduled preliminary hearings took place in Fairfield Municipal Court.

Dan Ferguson, the assistant county prosecutor assigned to the cases, said he expects many to be resolved in the next few weeks. Then the federal government will get its chance to deport the suspects, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

A total of 161 people were taken into custody Aug. 28

at the Fairfield chicken

processing plant. All face deportation, but only the

20 housed in Butler County jail face local criminal charges.

The following entered guilty pleas and are awaiting sentencing, according to Assistant County Prosecutor Dan Ferguson: Jesus Becceril-Lara, 28; Margurita Gonzalez-Ruiz, 47; Lucia Judith Cruz-Sanchez, 38; and Rosario Castillo-Vargas, 24, all of Mexico. Ferguson is assigned to all the state cases.

"The state will agree to the minimum sentence for plea," Ferguson said Friday. The fifth-degree felonies carry a sentence of six months to a year in jail.

According to the local indictments, the alleged crimes committed by the 20 occurred in various years dating back to 2005.