Thread: Another Iowa slaughterhouse manager faces charges

Another Iowa slaughterhouse manager faces charges

DES MOINES (AP) — Nearly a thousand new charges have been filed in the state's prosecution of alleged child labor violations at a kosher meatpacking plant in northeast Iowa.

The 954 new charges were filed Jan. 16 against Jeffrey Heasley, a beef production supervisor at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville. They include alleged child labor violations of employing minors in a meatpacking establishment and for exposing minors to dangerous or poisonous chemicals.

Last September, the Iowa attorney general's office filed more than 9,000 charges against the plant, its owners and managers. Heasley was not one of the managers charged at that time.


THE LATEST: Former slaughterhouse CEO faces additional charges
9,000 MISDEMEANORS: Iowa files child labor charges against execs of raided plant

NATIONWIDE SHORTAGES: Immigration raid takes bite out of kosher-meat supply

Prosecutors accuse the company of hiring minors and in some cases of having children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment.

According to an online court docket, the state is seeking to try Heasley and the other defendants facing child labor charges together, starting April 20.

Heasley is scheduled to appear at a hearing Wednesday.

An attorney for Heasley was not listed in court documents, the Allamakee County Clerk's Office said. A woman who answered the telephone at the Agriprocessors plant said Heasley continues to work there. A message left for him on Monday afternoon at the plant wasn't immediately returned.

The other defendants include the company itself; plant owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin; his son Sholom Rubashkin, former plant manager; human resources manager Elizabeth Billmeyer; and human resource employees Laura Althouse and Karina Freund.

Agriprocessors — the nation's biggest kosher meatpacking plant — was raided by immigration authorities last May 12. Nearly 400 people were arrested, most of them Guatemalan and Mexican nationals.

The raid created turmoil in the small town as families faced deportation. The company has filed for bankruptcy protection, and the allegations of worker abuse prompted some Jews to call for a certification program to protect workers and the environment in the kosher food industry, which is already subject to strict dietary laws.
-------------------------------------------------
It's great to see USA TODAY take this story nationwide.
You can post a comment at the USA TODAY Online site at this link:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... titialskip

WOW! How many misdemeanors can you accumulate? They are going for the record

Prosecutors accuse the company of hiring minors and in some cases of having children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment.

That may be the case, BUT were the minors using fake/stolen ID? If the companies cannot determine who is and who isn't legal, how do they determine who is and who isn't a minor?

Why are some laws being enforced and others ignored?

That may be the case, BUT were the minors using fake/stolen ID? If the companies cannot determine who is and who isn't legal, how do they determine who is and who isn't a minor?

Why are some laws being enforced and others ignored?

Exactly. Heck a 16 yr. old can't even operate a simple box crusher (not lack the ability, just what the law says) let alone anything legal in a situation like that. You would think all the more reason for e-verify. But sorry, that defeats the purpose doesn't it?