Jul 3, 9:09 PM EDT


State shuts down farm labor contractor


FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- For the second time in three weeks, state officials are shutting down a farm labor contractor that employed a pregnant teenager who died of heat stroke.

A spokesman says the state Department of Industrial Relations issued the stop work order to Merced Farm Labor on Thursday, just a week after the company was allowed to resume operations.

The state is seeking to revoke the company's license, but had allowed the contractor to do business if officials reported where its employees were working each day.

On a spot visit to a vineyard in Keyes on Thursday, inspectors found the company's laborers working without adequate protection from the heat.

The state suspects the contractor failed to provide Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, 17, proper access to shade and water before she collapsed while pruning grapes May 14 near Stockton


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