Iowan headed to federal prison for hiring undocumented immigrants

Grant Rodgers, grodgers@dmreg.com 12:41 p.m. CST February 12, 2015



A northeast Iowa businessman whose company built grain bins will spend more than two years in federal prison after admitting that he brought undocumented immigrants from Colorado to Iowa for jobs.

Juan Manzano-Huerta, 33, admitted last year that he employed undocumented immigrants to build grain bins for his Waucoma-based Manzano Grain Bin Services during 2012 and 2013. One summer, Manzano-Huerta sent a crew supervisor, Ramon Perez, to pick up four undocumented immigrants in Denver and bring them to Iowa, according to court documents.

The immigrants themselves paid $370 for the ride. Manzano-Huerta also gave his employees no safety training before they went to construction sites, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing recommendation filed last year.

In July 2013, an undocumented immigrant from Storm Lake was crushed and suffered broken bones as a grain bin roof collapsed at a job site in Slater. Prosecutors argued for a longer prison sentence for Manzano-Huerta, claiming he recklessly put workers in danger.

“The offense involved intentionally or recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Tvedt wrote.

“Defendant’s employees worked in a hazardous profession without any safety training.”

Federal immigration officials began investigating Manzano-Huerta after the collapse.

Manzano-Huerta lied during the investigation about his business relationship with Perez, the supervisor who made the Colorado trip, prosecutors wrote. On a phone call between the two recorded by the Fayette County Jail, Manzano-Huerta told the crew supervisor about the investigation, saying, “They’re on to me, fool.”

“You shouldn’t call me anymore, fool,” Manzano-Huerta told Perez on the call. “It’s causing me an (expletive) load of problems, fool.”

At the time of the call, Perez was in the county jail on charges of sexual abuse and first-degree kidnapping. Manzano-Huerta told the crew supervisor to lie to federal investigators and say he was a subcontractor, rather than an employee of the company, prosecutors wrote.

Manzano-Huerta pleaded guilty last year to two violations of immigration law. U.S. Chief Judge Linda Reade sentenced Manzano-Huerta last week to 33 months in federal prison. The judge recommended the businessman be able to serve the time at a prison near his family in Texas. He also faces a $3,000 fine.

Manzano-Huerta’s defense attorney argued in a sentencing brief that the worker injured in the 2013 collapse was wearing a safety harness and helmet. The brief also argued that Manzano-Huerta paid all his workers the same wages, regardless of their immigration status.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/sto...ants/23299433/