Labor Company Charged With Using 1,000 Illegal Aliens
Labor Company Charged With Using 1,000 Illegal Aliens
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CINCINNATI - A temporary labor company and three executives were indicted Tuesday on charges that they employed more than 1,000 illegal aliens to sort freight at a cargo company in southwest Ohio.
The 40-count indictment in U.S. District Court alleges that Garcia Labor Company Inc. and Garcia Labor Company of Ohio Inc. encouraged and enabled the illegal aliens - most from Mexico - to work at ABX Air Inc.'s hub in Wilmington. ABX had contracts with Garcia Labor to provide qualified temporary workers from December 1999 until January 2005, according to the indictment.
A spokeswoman for Morristown, Tenn.- based Garcia Labor said the company had no comment.
Also indicted were Maximino Garcia, the president and co-owner of both companies; Dominga McCarroll, his sister and a former vice president of the two companies; and Gina Luciano, director of human relations for Garcia Labor in Tennessee.
The three executives pleaded not guilty Tuesday before a federal magistrate in Cincinnati and declined comment afterward.
All are charged with one count of conspiracy to induce illegal aliens to live in the United States, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Garcia faces another 16 counts of inducing illegal aliens to live in the country, and 19 counts of harboring illegal aliens.
Luciano is charged with 14 counts of inducing illegal aliens to live in the country, three counts of transporting illegal aliens, and three counts of harboring illegal aliens.
Each of the immigration charges carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The money laundering charges carry a maximum 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Prosecutors also want Garcia to forfeit $12 million - what the company earned from one year of its contracts with ABX - and property where the workers were housed in Wilmington, 42 miles east of Cincinnati.
ABX said it cooperated with the federal investigation of Garcia Labor, terminated its contract with the company last year and filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit in February. ABX declined further comment, citing the litigation.
