Agriprocessors human resource worker pleads guilty to charges
By AMY LORENTZEN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS POSTED: December 11,
Email: "Agriprocessors human resource worker pleads guilty to charges"



DES MOINES - A former human resources employee at a northeast Iowa kosher slaughterhouse pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a federal charge for helping hire illegal immigrants to work at the plant.

Karina Pilar Freund, who worked in the human resources department at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville, had faced charges of conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants and harboring and aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented immigrants for profit,

During a hearing Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids, the 29-year-old from Fayette pleaded guilty under an agreement with prosecutors to a misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting a pattern or practice of hiring undocumented immigrants.

According to court records, Freund "aided the unlawful employment of aliens knowing the aliens were not authorized to work in the United States."

Her attorney, Mark Brown, said Freund could have faced up to five years on the charges. Under the plea deal, she now faces a maximum sentence of 6 months in prison, probation of up to 5 years, and a fine of up to $3,000 for each unauthorized immigrant involved in the offense.

"I thought the agreement was very fair and reasonable," Brown told The Associated Press.

Freund was initially arrested in September. Another charge was added in her case last month after a federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment against Agriprocessors and its managers.

The indictment alleged the company and its former CEO and managers were intricately involved in efforts to employ illegal immigrants at the Postville plant. Officials have said more charges could be filed against the company and its managers, who are tentatively scheduled to go to trial Sept. 8.

The indictment followed a May immigration raid during which federal agents arrested 389 workers. The company has since filed for bankruptcy.

The U.S. attorney's office said Freund is free on bond pending sentencing. A sentencing date will be scheduled after a presentence report is prepared.
Wednesday's hearing wasn't the last of Freund's legal troubles involving Agriprocessors. She and other company officials, as well as the company, are scheduled to go to trial next April on more than 9,000 charges alleging child labor violations at the plant.

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