No charges in 2007 raid at Koch Foods

By Dan Horn
August 27, 2009
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No managers or company officials at Koch Foods Co. will be prosecuted as a result of an immigration raid two years ago at the company’s poultry processing plant in Fairfield.

Federal prosecutors and a company lawyer confirmed this week that the criminal investigation into Koch and its managers is over and that no one would face charges.

The decision comes two years after federal and local law enforcement agencies raided Koch’s processing plant and vowed to pursue charges against anyone at Koch who turned a blind eye to immigration laws when they hired the 161 illegal immigrants arrested during the raid.

After the raid in August 2007, law enforcement officials said the illegal workers used fraudulent identification documents to get jobs at Koch and that the large number of arrests raised questions about whether the company bent or broke the rules.

Butler County Sheriff Rick Jones, an outspoken advocate for tougher immigration enforcement, warned businesses after the raid that “you can’t come here and commit a crime and go unscathed.â€