Indictments: Illegal Immigrants Worked On Downtown Federal Building

OMAHA (KPTM) - Three Omaha men have been indicted on three federal charges that they conspired to harbor illegal immigrants, employing them for work on the new federal building in downtown Omaha.

Federal prosecutors say that 53-year-old Richard Ridpath, 38-year-old John Jantzon and 33-year-old Agustin Rios were each indicted on three charges including conspiring to harbor illegal aliens, illegally transporting an illegal alien and encouraging and inducing illegal aliens to reside in the United States.

The indictment alleges that three were either managers or supervisors at Tufly Drywall.

Company chief executive Donald Gatewood says Tufly was disappointed by the indictments but will continue cooperating with federal authorities.

The indictment covers incidents during construction of the Zorinsky building, 2004-2007.

Federal agents and investigators from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department seized boxes of documents from Tufly on June 26th of last year, and one individual was arrested. The search warrant that allowed them to seize the documents related primarily to employees and subcontractor files.

At the time, federal investigators would not comment on the arrest, calling it an “administrative arrestâ€