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Agriprocessors Is Assessed Fines Totaling Nearly Ten Million Dollars

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Agriprocessors Is Assessed Fines Totaling Nearly Ten Million Dollars University of Northern Iowa UNI ScholarWorks Postville Project Documents Postville Project April 2019 Agriprocessors is assessed fines otalingt nearly ten million dollars Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Copyright Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/postville_documents Part of the Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons Recommended Citation "Agriprocessors is assessed fines otalingt nearly ten million dollars" (2019). Postville Project Documents. 211. https://scholarworks.uni.edu/postville_documents/211 This Document is brought to you for free and open access by the Postville Project at UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Postville Project Documents by an authorized administrator of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tuesday, Nov. 4 was Veterans Day election day. Look for complete election program is Nov. results in next week’s paper. Here Arlin 11 at 10 a.m. at Schager and Gwen the school. Please Harris prepare to vote at the Multicultural come help the stu- Center in Postville. dents honor those Poll workers are Cindy Berns and Sharon who have served. Miene. What’s Agriprocessors is assessed fines totaling Applications being accepted happening in nearly ten million dollars; former manager for energy assistance and around A representative of Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation will be in the diversity room of the Multi-Cul- Postville....... arrested & ordered to wear tracking device tural Center on Wednesdays, November 12 and 26 and also Senior youth food on Wednesday, December 12 from noon until 6 p.m. Resi- dents may come in during any of these weeks to apply for the drive is today energy program for the upcoming heating season. Applicants The Senior Youth are to bring proof of all family income for the past 13 weeks group at St Paul Lutheran or for 2007. A fuel bill, an electric bill and a phone bill would Church is having a nonper- also be helpful. Anyone having questions should call 563- ishable food drive tonight 568-4224 and ask for Letha or Susan. (Wednesday, November 5). Residents are asked to leave the items in a bag at their Seasonal parking restrictions front door by 6 p.m and Residents and visitors to the City of Postville are reminded they are also asked to turn that winter parking restrictions are now in affect within the city their porch lights on.. The limits. Those restrictions include no parking on public streets youth will pick up the items or alleys from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. from November 1 to April 1. between 6:30-7:30 p.m. All Violators will be ticketed. food items will be donated to the Postville Food Pan- World Community Day is Fri. try. World Community Day will be held this Friday, November P. E. O. to meet 7 at Community Presbyterian Church. The theme for the pro- Approximately two hundred employees were working on the chicken and poultry kill lines at Agriprocessors on Mon- gram is “God’s Wisdom Sets Us Free”. Fellowship begins at P.E.O. Chapter FT will day morning as the Jacobson Staffing Agency had pulled its employees from the plant late last week. Prior to the May 9:30 with the program to follow at 10 a.m. All are welcome. hold its next meeting on 12 raid over 900 people were employed by the Kosher meat packing facility. A majority of the parking spaces, along with Tuesday, November 11th at those assigned to USDA government inspectors, were vacant as a few workers wandered into the main plant. The sign 7:30 p.m. The meeting will posted on the outside of the building, directly above the window reads, “Agriprocessors a Great Place to Work.” be held at East Park Terrace with Ardie Kuhse as the Postville’s kosher meat packing plant, Agriprocessors, barn area of the plant a week before the raid. The witness told hostess. The theme for will Inc., is once again in the National and local news limelight as Rubashkin that $4,500 was needed to help employees fired be “We Are Citizens” and charges and allegations continue to be brought forth following from the supervisor’s beef kill department because they had Jennifer Zieman will give the May 12 immigration raid. bad papers. the program. All members Althouse pleads guilty Rubashkin apparently asked if the money had to be in are encouraged to join in. Laura Althouse, a human resources employee at the facil- cash and the next morning agreed to loan it. ity, appeared in federal court in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Later in the day, another employee gave the supervisor October 29 at which time she entered a plea of guilty to con- FreedomClub trip the cash. spiring to harbor undocumented aliens and aggravated identity open to all theft. According to her plea, Althouse, 38, conspired with oth- That witness said he or she then gave money to employ- The public is invited ers to harbor illegal immigrants at the plant using false iden- ees to buy new identification documents. The new documents to join the FreedomClub tification documents. Court records further state she did it for were obtained and given to up to 40 employees a day before as they travel to Delavan, commercial advantage and private financial gain. The incident the raid, according to the affidavit. Wis., to enjoy a Vegas-style cited allegedly happened May 11, the day before the immigra- Rubashkin waived his right to a preliminary hearing, and Christmas show with il- tion raid conducted by Federal ICE agents. the case was bound over for consideration by a grand jury. It luminated horses, amazing Althouse was also convicted of aggravated identity theft has been indicated by Rubashkin’s attorney, F. Montgomery performers, and dancing for using a resident alien number that was assigned to another Brown of West Des Moines, that he (Rubashkin) will plead waters. The show includes person to commit the crime. not guilty. a 30-minute exotic bird The maximum sentence allowed under the law is up to 12 After agreeing to surrender his passport and that of his who, a plated lunch, and the years in prison, a $500,000 fine and a four-year supervised re- wife, Leah, Rubashkin was released. He was also ordered to “Dancing Horses Theatre” lease. Althouse’s sentence, however, is likely to be reduced as wear a GPS ankle bracelet similar to those worn by many of show. The show features an she reaches a plea agreement with the prosecution. the immigrants who were arrested during the raid. He was fur- array of horse breeds who Fines assessed ther ordered not to leave the Northern District of Iowa and to perform alongside their Nearly $10 million in fines have been assessed to Agripro- provide a $1 million appearance bond. trainers in this fantastic cav- cessors by the state for hundreds of violations of wage laws. When questioned about the charges and conditions of his alcade of equestrian artistry. The total amount of $9,988,200 in civil penalties makes it ex- release, both Sholom and his attorney declined to comment Cost includes the bird show, tremely difficult for the Kosher meat packing facility to recover when leaving the hearing in Cedar Rapids. Dancing Horses Theatre, from the loss of employees and other expenses associated with Judge Linda Reade gives power to Atec Liquidations lunch, motor coach, driver the May 12 raid according to spokespersons for the company. Chief U. S. District Judge Linda Reade, following a tele- tip and morning snack. The The fine, the largest ever assessed by Iowa Workforce de- phone hearing Friday, gave Atec Liquidations of St. Louis, New cross on the steeple deadline to sign up is Mon- velopment, may become higher if further investigation results Missouri limited power to oversee Agriprocessors as well as Milo Sebastian, of Sebastian Painting and Tree Service, day, Nov. 17. It is open to in more penalties. The Iowa Labor Commission, under the the plant owned by the Rubashkin family in Gordon, Nebras- is 108 feet off the ground in his boom truck as he places any interested parties! direction of Dave Neil, said the current fines are from viola- the final section of the new cross on top of the steeple at St. tions which happened in 2006, 2007 and 2008 prior to the raid. Charges, arrests, allegations at Agriprocessors Paul Lutheran Church last week. The cross, made locally Charges listed include, but are not limited to, failure to pay CONTINUED ON PAGE10 by Bodley Equipment, is 7 feet tall and has a lightning rod final paychecks to 42 workers arrested during the raid and the on the top. On a clear day the cross may be seen for many deduction of nearly $200,000 from workers’ paychecks for miles. frocks they supposedly wore on the floor of the plant. The company’s beef kill operation was suspended last Monona Monday (October 27) and, as of today (Monday, November 3) had not resumed. Chicken, turkey and other departments, how- 563-539-2061 ever, have been working each day. An employee, who asked Part of the BIRDNOW DEALERSHIPS not to be identified, said he was hired November 3 and is to in Monona, Fayette, Cascade, Jesup, Oelwein & Independence. begin work Thursday on the beef kill floor. Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, Ford, Lincoln & When asked about rumors that the company is having diffi- Mercury available at our Oelwein location. culty making payroll, other employees who were standing near the entrance of the plant said they had gotten their checks on We’re Here time last week and they were cashed without a problem.
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