May 10, 2007
Temp Company Owner Sentenced on Immigration Violations
Gregory Lockhart, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, recently announced the sentencing of Maximino Garcia, president and co-owner of two temporary labor service companies, for his role in a conspiracy that provided hundreds of illegal aliens to work at a national air cargo firm in Wilmington, Ohio. Garcia was sentenced to 15 months in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release; fined $25,000; and ordered to forfeit $12 million representing the proceeds of the crime.

Lockhart said that Garcia, who owned Garcia Labor Company of Wilmington, started contracting with ABX Air in 1999. ABX is a cargo transportation company that sorts, handles, and hauls air freight. Garcia provided ABX with a workforce of temporary laborers, almost all of them Hispanics of Mexican origin who did not read, write, or speak English. The employment eligibility forms that Garcia gave the workers to sign were pre-printed to list two specific forms of identification: a Resident Alien card and a Social Security card.

The sentence includes the largest forfeiture amount ever ordered in an illegal labor case, Lockhart's office noted.

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