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Business owner gets 15 months in illegal alien case
Cincinnati Business Courier - 2:52 PM EST Thursday, March 1, 2007

The owner of a business that employed hundreds of illegal immigrants at ABX Air Inc., was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Thursday.

Maximino Garcia was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, fined $25,000 and required to forfeit $12 million representing proceeds of the crime, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cincinnati.

Garcia, president of Garcia Labor Co. in Ohio Inc. and Tennessee-based Garcia Labor Co. Inc., pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to hire illegal aliens. Garcia's sister, Dominga McCarroll, who is also the former vice president of both companies and Gina Luciano, Garcia Labor Co. Inc. director of human relations, also pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Beginning in 1999, Garcia's company contracted to provide temporary workers for Wilmington-based ABX Air Inc., (NASDAQ: ABXA) authorities said.

Until at least 2003, the mostly Hispanic workers and applicants filled out employment eligibility forms, known as I-9 forms, that were pre-printed to list a Resident Alien card and a Social Security card, federal agents said.

Garcia's company also ignored notices from the Social Security Administration that its workers were using invalid Social Security numbers and forged employment-background information, which ABX Air began requiring in 2003. Garcia took steps to provide transportation, check-cashing and housing for its workers, officials said.

ABX Air terminated its contract with Garcia's companies in 2005, after a Transportation Security Administration inspection revealed that all 400 Garcia employees were using invalid or fraudulent Social Security numbers.