Thread: N.M.: Business man pleads guilty to hiring illegals

Updated at: 05/22/2008 07:43:13 PM

By: Shelton Dodson KOB-TV, and Joshua Panas KOB.com

Business man pleads guilty to hiring illegals

A Roswell business man, who made million in defense department contracts, plead guilty to hiring illegal aliens to work for his company Thursday.

The feds raided Carl Dean Baldwin's aircraft painting company in Roswell two years ago and found 15 illegal immigrants working there.

In federal court on Thursday, Baldwin admitted to hiring the illegals and providing them with illegal documents.

A judge then sentenced him to three years probation and a $300,000 fine.

As part of the plea agreement, Baldwin will lose all of his defense department contracts, which will cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

Roswell residents are now wondering if Baldwin's business will go under, leaving many people in Roswell without jobs.

Federal prosecutors say that's something they considered when they worked the plea deal for Baldwin.

But the company also paints commercial aircrafts and officials say that should be enough to keep the business afloat.

http://kob.com/article/stories/S453635.shtml?cat=504

We need more of this

Yes, we do need more of this...but it shouldn't have taken them two years to get the job done. Two years gave him plenty of time to get the money for the fine and do some more sneaky underhanded work, probably finding someone to "buy him out" and get business back to normal. The defense department will need to fulfill those "hundreds of thousands of dollars each year" contracts.

I know, sometimes I can be a pessimist, but I just don't trust any employer who would knowingly provide illegals with false documents, most likely destroying the identity of 15 Americans.