Thread: Immigration raid at Otay Mesa,CA. bakery, 41 illegals UPDATE

I.C.E. News Release

October 15, 2010

San Diego-area bakery owner, 3 employees charged for harboring illegal workers

Business's clients included military bases, prisons and the downtown federal building

SAN DIEGO - The owner of a San Diego-area bakery and three of its employees are facing federal conspiracy charges following a 13-month investigation into the company's hiring practices by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

A three-count criminal complaint filed in federal court here Thursday charges the owner of S&S Bakery, Inc., Jesse Fadick; two supervisors, Rigoberto Sarmiento-Machuca, 35, and Rogelio Machuca-Sarmiento, 46; and a bakery employee, Abel Baizabal, with harboring illegal aliens. Fadick, 64, and Baizabal, 38, are also charged with falsifying Social Security numbers and providing fraudulent immigration documents to illegal aliens working at the bakery. The defendants are expected to be arraigned in federal court on or before October 18. If convicted on the charges, they each face a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

The three employees charged in the primary complaint are Mexican nationals who were also working illegally at the bakery. Investigators determined that a fourth illegal worker found at the bakery, Norma Angelica Flores, 42, of Mexico, had been previously deported in 2005. Flores is charged separately with illegally reentering the United States after deportation, a violation that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The charges were filed Thursday after HSI agents executed five search warrants related to the case, including one at the business in Otay Mesa, Calif. At the bakery, HSI agents took 41 unauthorized alien workers into custody on administrative immigration violations.

Nineteen of those individuals are being held as material witnesses in the case; the remainder were processed and released pending a hearing before an immigration judge.

"ICE is commited to holding employers accountable when they knowingly hire an illegal workforce," said Mike Unzueta, special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego. "Employers who willfully violate our nation's hiring laws not only contribute to the job magnet that fuels much of this country's illegal immigration, but they make it even more difficult for lawful workers to find employment in this challenging economy."

HSI agents say they received tips from the public that S&S Bakery hired illegal workers, including one from a former employee. According to the criminal complaint, during the course of the investigation, HSI agents worked with an informant who identified dozens of illegal workers at the bakery and recorded numerous conversations, including one in which the owner allegedly changed delivery routes so the workers would not be detected by immigration authorities.

In 2009, ICE implemented a comprehensive strategy to reduce the demand for illegal employment and protect employment opportunities for the nation's lawful workforce.

Under this strategy, ICE is focusing its resources on auditing and investigating employers suspected of knowingly employing illegal workers. The goal of the enforcement strategy is to promote national security, protect critical infrastructure and ensure fair labor standards. ICE is using all available criminal and administrative tools, including civil fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal employment.

In fiscal year 2010, ICE criminally charged a record-breaking 180 business owners, employers, managers in connection with worksite investigations, compared to 135 in fiscal year 2008 and 114 in fiscal year 2009. In addition to the criminal charges, ICE conducted more than 2,200 I-9 audits in fiscal year 2010, compared to 1,400 in fiscal year 2009.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Monday, October 18, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1010/101015sandiego.htm

So basicly it took the 13 months to prove all this was going on and when they did finally go in there to stop it they just sent everybody home. They couldn't just drive them the 20 ft to the gate and push them all through

Originally Posted by moptop

So basicly it took the 13 months to prove all this was going on and when they did finally go in there to stop it they just sent everybody home. They couldn't just drive them the 20 ft to the gate and push them all through

i hope the illegal immgrants get a lawyer and sue the bakery for work place abuse ..

The defendants are expected to be arraigned in federal court on or before October 18.

I'm watching for the court results.

Bakery owner pleads not guilty to illegal hiring

Associated Press
10/16/10 4:55 PM EDT

SAN DIEGO — The owner of a wholesale bakery that delivers to a federal courthouse, military bases, prisons and schools has pleaded not guilty to hiring workers not authorized to be in the United States.

Jesse Fadick, 65, entered his plea Friday and was released on a $75,000 bond after surrendering his passport and a firearm.

"Based on his ties to the community and prior record, he is not a risk of flight," defense attorney Howard Frank told the San Diego Union-Tribune. Frank declined to discuss charges in the case.

Fadick, along with two managers and a third employee, are accused of running an extensive scheme to hire illegal immigrants and evade detection by authorities.

Fadick also was charged with falsifying Social Security numbers and providing fraudulent immigration documents to illegal workers at S&S Bakery in Otay Mesa, which listed 119 employees in a government filing this year.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday arrested 44 illegal immigrants who worked at the company, according to a criminal complaint. ICE said all were from Mexico, including 19 who are being held as witnesses.

Most of them will appear before an immigration judge, said ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack. Two women were released due to their family circumstances, Mack said.

S&S, which makes cakes, muffins and breads at a 35,000-square-foot building near the Mexican border, came under scrutiny when a former employee reported his suspicions to ICE in October 2009.

An employee who is in the country illegally became a government informant and identified dozens of workers who were unauthorized to work, according to the complaint. The employee recorded conversations in Fadick allegedly discusses changing delivery routes to shield workers from immigration authorities.

The Social Security Administration found 50 employees had Social Security numbers that were invalid or did not match their names.

A message left with Fadick seeking comment was not returned. The complaint says he told authorities that he didn't know he employed illegal immigrants.

S&S's delivery routes include the Edward J. Schwartz federal building in downtown San Diego, home to the courthouse where his case was filed. The charges were the culmination of a 13-month probe by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations.
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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.signonsandiego.com

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/break ... 04849.html

I lived in Chula Vista for a while. Couldn't get out of there fast enough. California, I believe, is a lost cause. We need to put a big fence around it and contain the insanity within.

More charges filed against bakery owner in immigration violations

By Morgan Lee, UNION-TRIBUNE

Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at 12:58 p.m.

New criminal charges were filed Tuesday in anticipation of a plea agreement involving the owner and four employees of a wholesale bakery in Otay Mesa accused of running an extensive scheme to employ illegal immigrants and evade detection by authorities.

S & S Bakery owner Jesse Fadick pleaded not guilty to knowingly hiring at least 10 illegal immigrants in federal court, and a hearing was set in anticipation a new plea. A related forfeiture charge could force Fadick if convicted to turn over proceeds to the government, including vehicles and personal property.

The U.S. Attorney's Office brought lesser charges of fraud and misuse of residency documents against four other bakery employees, three of them jailed. Those defendants also have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to enter new pleas later this month.

The charges were presented without the involvement of a grand jury after all five defendants agreed to a waiver of indictment.


www.signonsandiego.com

Bakery owner denies illegal hiring

Prosecutors claim at least 10 employees were undocumented

By Morgan Lee
November 16, 2010 at 9:35 p.m.

Revised criminal charges were filed Tuesday in anticipation of a plea agreement involving the owner and four employees of a wholesale bakery in Otay Mesa accused of running an extensive scheme to employ illegal immigrants and evade detection by authorities.

S & S Bakery owner Jesse William Fadick pleaded not guilty in federal court to knowingly hiring at least 10 illegal immigrants, and a hearing was set in anticipation of a new plea.

The felony charge, brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern California, replaces earlier allegations and carries the same maximum penalty — five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

An additional forfeiture charge could force Fadick to turn over certain proceeds to the government, including vehicles, real estate and other assets related to any violations.

Charges have not been filed against S & S Bakery itself, where 41 employees were arrested in an October raid led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The business, in an industrial zone near the Mexican border, distributed its goods to military bases, prisons, hospitals, schools and even a federal building where government immigration officials and prosecutors work.

morgan.lee@uniontrib.com (619) 293-1251

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010 ... al-hiring/