Indictment could signal breakdown
Government typically tries to forgo company charges; Columbia Farms is an exception.
By Franco Ordonez
fordonez@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Saturday, Jul. 18, 2009

Federal agents executed a search warrant at the House of Raeford's Columbia Farms plant in Greenville, S.C., in 2008.

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Federal charges against a company owned by House of Raeford Farms could signal that efforts to negotiate a settlement with the N.C.-based poultry company broke down, according to some legal experts.

A federal grand jury this week indicted Columbia Farms, a unit of the Raeford, N.C.-based private chicken processing company, with knowingly hiring illegal immigrants at a plant in South Carolina.

Since June 2008, federal officials have arrested workers and supervisors, raided the Greenville, S.C., plant, and charged the human resource manager and top manager with immigration violations.

In most similar cases, the government attempts to forgo prosecution of the company since the consequences can be substantial and often fall on innocent employees.

Typically, charges aren't brought against a company unless the government suspects a culture that tolerates or condones wrongful behavior.

“The analogy I often use is if its bad apples, you go after the bad apples,â€