Thread: CA-County officials begin criminal probe into farmworker dea

County officials begin criminal probe into farmworker death

By Garance Burke
ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:40 p.m. May 29, 2008

FRESNO – Local investigators are probing whether a labor contractor may be criminally liable for the death of a young, pregnant farmworker who collapsed in a vineyard two weeks ago.

Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, 17, was pruning grape vines at a San Joaquin County vineyard in 100-degree heat when she fell to the ground the afternoon of May 14.

Relatives say supervisors recommended that she rest in a hot van and be revived with rubbing alcohol before she was taken to a Lodi medical clinic, nearly two hours after she fell ill. Only after her death did doctors realize she was two months' pregnant.

California State Attorney General Jerry Brown said Thursday an investigator from his office was assisting in the county's probe, along with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

A division official said Jimenez's employer, Merced Farm Labor, had been issued three citations in 2006 for exposing workers to heat stroke, failing to train workers on heat stress prevention and not installing toilets at the work site.

The Atwater company has not paid the $2,250 it owes in fines, said agency spokesman Dean Fryer.

Merced Farm Labor safety officer Elias Armenta did not return repeated calls seeking comment on Thursday, and the company that owns the vineyard could not immediately be reached.

Vasquez Jimenez, a Mexican citizen from a Mixtec indigenous town in the state of Oaxaca, had only worked in the vineyard for three days.

On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made an unannounced appearance at her funeral at a Catholic church in Lodi.

“Maria's death should have been prevented, and all Californians must do everything in their power to ensure no other worker suffers the same fate,â€

If companies are found guilty of criminal violations, they could face millions of dollars in penalties and prison sentences, he said.

Then fine the companies and jail the owners/managers. DEPORT the illegal aliens they hired too!