SC poultry plant manager faces immigration charge

Thursday, April 16, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The manager of a South Carolina poultry plant has been indicted on a charge he knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

Prosecutors say Barry Cronic began hiring illegal immigrants at Columbia Farms in Greenville in 2000, and kept hiring them until a raid last October. The raid found more than 300 people working at the plant who were in the county illegally.

Personnel manager Elaine Crump also was indicted Wednesday on a similar charge. She already faces 20 counts of telling workers to use falsified immigration documents.

Court records didn't show an attorney for Cronic, and a phone listing couldn't be found. Crump's lawyer was handling a case out of state and couldn't be reached.

North Carolina-based House of Raeford owns the plant. The company said it doesn't knowingly hire illegal immigrants and is cooperating with investigators.

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April 16, 2009 - 10:11 a.m. EDT

http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/state/ ... 49856.html