Thread: Sc-New arrest at chicken plant in immigration violation case

New arrest at chicken plant in immigration violation case
By Eric Connor • STAFF WRITER • July 9, 2008


Another employee of a Greenville poultry factory under federal investigation for immigration violations was arrested today on charges that she instructed human resources employees to use falsified employment eligibility forms, according to a newly handed down indictment and a federal prosecutor.


Elaine Crump is charged with 20 counts of "instructed employees to use fraudulent Form I-9s," according to an indictment filed yesterday.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald told The Greenville News today that the charges were related to Crump's employment at the House of Raeford poultry plant in Greenville.

Last month, federal agents arrested five supervisors at the chicken-processing facility on Rutherford Road near North Pleasantburg Drive as part of an investigation months in the making.

Immigration officials said five men, all of Mexico and supervisors at the plant, were arrested based on criminal arrest warrants for charges that included aggravated identity theft; fraud and misuse of permits, visas and other documents; and false statements.

House of Raeford has said it was "cooperating fully" with immigration officials and "will continue to do so."

Check back with GreenvilleOnline.com for updates to this story.

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pb ... 1/80709031

Click that link to the greenville news over and over, so they know we are interested in this story !!!

New arrest at chicken plant in immigration violation case
By Eric Connor • STAFF WRITER • July 9, 2008


Another employee of a Greenville poultry factory under federal investigation for immigration violations was arrested today, this time on charges that she instructed human resources employees to use falsified employment eligibility forms, according to a newly handed down indictment and a federal prosecutor.



Elaine C. Crump is charged with 20 counts of "instructed employees to use fraudulent Form I-9s" at an unnamed company in the Upstate, according to a federal indictment filed yesterday. Today she was released on $25,000 unsecured bond that requires her not to leave the state.

Asked to confirm the company referred to in Crump's indictment today, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald told GreenvilleOnline.com that the charges were related to Crump's employment at the Columbia Farms House of Raeford poultry plant in Greenville.

Last month, federal agents arrested five supervisors at the chicken-processing facility on Rutherford Road near North Pleasantburg Drive as part of an investigation months in the making.

On Tuesday, the five men, all of them from Mexico, were indicted on multiple immigration and identity fraud charges, including that they supplied false information on federal immigration forms for employment verification, according to court records.

They are Guadalupe Neri-Templos, Juan Ramon Macias-Rodriguez, Juan Juarez-Suarez, Simon Gutierrez-Gomez, Evaristo Merino-Vasquez, records show.

House of Raeford representatives had no immediate comment when contacted by GreenvilleOnline.com today. The company has said in a statement previously that it is "cooperating fully" with immigration officials and "will continue to do so."

From December 2006 to May 2007, Crump instructed human resources employees to use "previously signed immigration employment eligibility verification forms" to fraudulently verify eligibility for 20 applicants, the indictment alleges.

The forms bore the signature of an employee who was represented as having witnessed the required documentation and completion of the legibility forms but who "Crump then well knew" no longer worked at the company at the time, the indictment alleges.

Affidavits filed in U.S. District Court by a federal immigration agent alleged that the five supervisors indicted used an invalid Social Security number, an invalid alien registration card or another person's Social Security number to get their jobs at the plant.

The agent, Paul A. Anderson, described in one affidavit how in May, as a result of a work-site enforcement investigation, he received an employment verification form from the human resources manager of a company in Greenville, later confirmed to be the House of Raeford plant.

Anderson said that in June he ran a record check through the immigration enforcement database on the resident alien card Templos provided to get his job, and found Templos used the card number belonging to another person, according to the affidavit.

The company, based in Raeford, N.C., has plants in North Carolina and South Carolina, including Greenville and West Columbia.

Staff Writer David Dykes contributed.


http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pb ... /1001/NEWS