Thread: Former manager of largest U.S. kosher plant arrested today

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/30/kos ... index.html


About damn time !!!!


updated 1 hour, 9 minutes ago
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The former manager of largest U.S. kosher plant arrestedStory Highlights
Sholom Rubashkin was boss of nation's top kosher plant at time of immigration raid

He was arrested Thursday on charges of harboring illegal immigrants

"This investigation is not closed," federal official says

Rubashkin and his father face separate state charges of child labor violations

Next Article in Crime »


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By Wayne Drash
CNN


(CNN) -- The former manager of the largest U.S. kosher meatpacking plant was arrested Thursday on federal conspiracy charges of harboring illegal immigrants and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft, federal officials said.


Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant, is in Postville, Iowa.

1 of 2 more photos » Sholom Rubashkin, 49, a powerful member of the Hasidic Jewish community and former head of the kosher plant Agriprocessors, was taken into custody Thursday morning by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

"This investigation is not closed and is continuing," said Bob Teig, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Rubashkin was arrested in Postville, Iowa, a town of about 2,400 in the northeast corner of the state that is home to the kosher plant.

He faces three counts: conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens for profit; aiding and abetting document fraud; and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.

If convicted, the first two counts carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000. The third count carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years, Teig said. See photos around "ground zero" of the nation's immigration debate »

ICE spokesman Tim Counts said he could not comment about specifics. "Things are still unfolding," he said.

Calls to Agriprocessors seeking reaction have not been returned.

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ICE agents raided the Agriprocessors plant May 12 and arrested more than 300 illegal aliens, most of whom pleaded guilty to identity theft charges in trials that lasted less than two days. Rubashkin was the plant manager at the time of the raid. Read how the Postville raid angered a local priest

"None of the undocumented alien workers were in possession of documents allowing them to work or reside in the United States legally," the affidavit against Rubashkin says. "During the execution of the warrants, agents discovered and seized dozens of fraudulent permanent resident alien cards from offices within the human resources department at Agriprocessors."

Thursday's arrest came a day after a human resources manager pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants and aggravated identity theft charges. Laura Louise Althouse, 38, faces a mandatory sentence of two years in prison and a potential maximum of 12 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

"Althouse conspired with others to harbor undocumented aliens at her place of employment in Postville. The information states the harboring offense was committed for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain," the district attorney's office said in a written statement.


Rubashkin and his father, plant owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, face other serious allegations from the state of Iowa. The state has filed more than 9,000 misdemeanor charges against the owners and managers at Agriprocessors, accusing them of child labor law violations.

The criminal complaint, filed by the office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, says the violations involved 32 youths under the age of 18, including seven under the age of 16.
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FINALLY, Now there is a few 100 more arond the country to lock up.

Well......told ya so. Many of these places that hire illegals aliens are crooked places to begin with, so if they needed them it's because American Citizens refused to work for a crummy company and didn't have the money to fight it in court. Yes....illegals fear getting deported and all that involves, but trust me there were plenty of citizens who lost their jobs if they even hinted on reporting them or caused any rift.

This country would be amazed at the crooked shams played on it's citizens in alot of our jobs. Things they get away with because of threat of loosing their jobs. Things you think are against the law, but it's so vague, it doesn't apply if it's a business under or over or this type or that and unless there's a surprise bust....it's tough to get the gang together or scrape up the money to fight it. If there's a loophole, they abuse it. It's really bad, and the employer rules.

I remember the big whoopla about illegals being expected to work through their breaks for free.......hello......been going on forever. Overtime not paid......hello......been there done that......we'll get to you later. Not paying what they verbally agreed to.....talk to my daughter and tons of others who took pay cuts and everything just to keep their job only to find out it was a scam and you can't do anything about it.

Any of these problems weren't new or special just for illegals.....been going on for a long time.......they just needed a new group to abuse.

Feels like something is stuck in my back and the backs of my fellow Americans...

Former manager of largest US kosher plant arrested
CNN - 2 hours ago
The former manager of Agriprocessors was arrested on charges ...
Jewish Telegraphic Agency - 3 hours ago
Meatpacker Is Fined Nearly $10 Million
New York Times - 20 hours ago

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — A former manager of a kosher slaughterhouse found to have employed hundreds of illegal immigrants was arrested Thursday by authorities who allege he helped many of the workers get fake documents.

Prosecutors said Sholom Rubashkin, 49-year-old son of Agriprocessors owner Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, is charged with conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain, aiding and abetting document fraud and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.

Immigration agents said in a federal affidavit that one witness said Sholom Rubashkin gave him $4,500 to buy identification documents for illegal-immigrant workers. Another allegedly said that Rubashkin saw nothing wrong with hiring a group of workers who had new-looking resident alien cards and may have been fired from the Agriprocessors plant in Postville just two days earlier.

Agents raided the plant May 12, arresting 389 people in what officials said at the time was the largest single-site immigration bust in U.S. history. State prosecutors allege that more than 30 of the workers were children.

Agents also seized dozens of fraudulent permanent resident alien cards during the raid, according to the affidavit.

Rubashkin, arrested in Thursday morning, was scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court in Cedar Rapids later Thursday.

Telephone messages left for Agriprocessors officials and Rubashkin's lawyer weren't returned.

The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the case Thursday, and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman did not return calls seeking comment.

The affidavit said an unnamed witness, a former supervisor in the beef kill area, told investigators he or she met with Rubashkin in a barn area of the plant the week before the raid. The witness told Rubashkin that $4,500 was needed to help employees fired from the witness' department because they had bad papers. Rubashkin apparently asked if the money had to be in cash and the next morning agreed to loan it. Later in the day another employee gave the witness the cash in $100 bills.

That witness said he or she then gave up to $200 each to employees to purchase new identification documents. The new documents were obtained and given to plant foremen to give to up to 40 employees a day before the raid, according to the affidavit.

Earlier this week, Laura Althouse, a human resources employee with Agriprocessors, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain and aggravated identity theft. Trial is scheduled for Nov. 17 for another human resources worker, Karina Freund.

Two of the plant's meatpacking supervisors also faced federal immigration charges.

In September, the owner and managers of the plant, including Sholom Rubashkin, were charged with 9,311 misdemeanors alleging they illegally hired minors and let children younger than 16 handle dangerous equipment. The complaint filed by the Iowa attorney general's office said the violations involved 32 illegal-immigrant children younger than 18, including seven who were not yet 16.

On Wednesday, Agriprocessors was fined nearly $10 million by Iowa Labor Commissioner Dave Neil over accusations that it violated state wage laws. The company has 30 days to appeal.

Associated Press writers Amy Lorentzen and Henry C. Jackson in Des Moines contributed to this report.
Hosted by Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i0No ... gD944VUUO1

GOOD! Now seize all his assets too!

Wonder if he will get Kosher meat in the slammer?

Ex-manager of Iowa meat plant accused of aiding illegal workers
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I.C.E. News Release

Oct. 30, 2008

ICE arrests former Agriprocessors CEO
Rubashkin is charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, document fraud, identity theft

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The former CEO of Agriprocessors Inc., was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Thursday and charged with criminal violations of immigration law. The charges were announced by U.S. Attorney Matt M. Dummermuth, Northern District of Iowa.

Sholom Rubashkin, 49, of Postville, Iowa, is charged with conspiring to harbor illegal aliens for profit, aiding and abetting document fraud, and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft. The charges are contained in a complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

The complaint alleges that the week before a May 12, 2008, ICE enforcement operation at Agriprocessors in Postville, Rubashkin - then the CEO of Agriprocessors - loaned $4,500 in $100 bills to employees who were known to have bad identification documents. Agriprocessors supervisors later allegedly distributed money to illegal alien employees so that they could purchase new, fake lawful permanent resident cards ("green cards") under different names.

The complaint says an Agriprocessors foreman arranged the purchase of the documents, and that Rubashkin allegedly asked human resources employees to work Sunday afternoon, May 11, to complete new application paperwork for several people. According to the complaint, approximately 96 fake permanent resident cards and application paperwork were seized from the human resources offices the following day. The complaint alleges that approximately 90 of the fake permanent resident cards contained resident alien numbers that were assigned to other people. The following day ICE agents arrested 389 illegal alien workers at Agriprocessors.

Rubashkin was arrested this morning without incident at his home in Postville by ICE agents and appeared this afternoon in federal court in Cedar Rapids. He was released on the conditions that he wear a GPS ankle bracelet, limit his travel to the Northern District of Iowa, surrender his and his wife's passport, and provide a $1 million appearance bond with $500,000 to be secured by Nov. 5, 2008. Rubashkin waived his right to a preliminary hearing and the case was bound over for consideration by a grand jury.

If convicted, Rubashkin faces a possible maximum penalty on the conspiracy charge of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and three years of supervised release. On the document fraud charge, he faces a possible maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and three years of supervised release. On the aggravated identity theft charge, he faces a mandatory consecutive two years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and one year of supervised release.

As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Peter Deegan, C.J. Williams and Matthew Cole, and was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Thursday, October 30, 2008
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0810/081030cedarrapids.htm

NOW WE'RE TALKIN'!!!!!!

IT'S ABOUT TIME THEY TOOK THIS SLIME TO THE SLAMMER. BUT I AGREE WITH MIGUELINA....TAKE HIS ILLGOTTEN ASSETS. SHOW OTHER EMPLOYERS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM IF THEY DON'T RUN THEIR BUSINESS ON THE UP AND UP.