Swift manager pleads guilty to harboring an immigrant
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
POSTED: March 26, 2008
DES MOINES — A man implicated in an immigration scam at a Marshalltown meatpacking plant has pleaded guilty to harboring an illegal immigrant, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Christopher Lamb, a human resources manager at Swift & Co., was arrested last summer after authorities recorded him coaching an illegal immigrant on how to use fake documents to get hired.
The worker Lamb allegedly coached, Alejandro Vasquez-Avina, was among those arrested during a raid on the Swift plant in December 2006.
After Vasquez-Avina’s arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fitted him with a concealed microphone on June 3 and sent him to Lamb’s house while agents recorded the conversation, court documents show.
Vasquez-Avina asked for his job back and was told by Lamb that others arrested in December were already back working at the plant.
Records show that Lamb told Vasquez-Avina that he shouldn’t come back under the same name.
In his plea, Lamb also admitted hiding an illegal immigrant at the plant from June 3 to June 25.
Lamb has been sentenced to 12 months of probation.
Member Comments
View Comments: | 1-13 | Post a comment
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MTownResident
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03-27-08 2:29 PM
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There is something fundamentally wrong on relying on someone else to provide for YOUR retirement. *sigh*
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CycloneMom
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03-27-08 12:33 PM
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Johnny is right about the pocketbook. We need bigger fines for the companies. That's the only way anything will change. If you think more probation is necessary, fine. But we shouldn't spend more tax dollars just to incarcerate someone who isn't a physical threat. Probation and hefty fines will do the job, but they also need to make the connection to corporate so they can get hammered with fines, too. Then again, the people they're hiring are funding your retirements after all...
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MTownResident
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03-27-08 8:37 AM
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123456, not a wall around the border.. A wall ON the border. We are not worried about the border breaking the law. What we are tired of is people breaking in through the side window instead of coming in the front door.
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Stargazer
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03-27-08 12:28 AM
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A job nobody wants? Ask an old meatpacker who worked for the original Swift or Hormel company in the 1960's. They paid good wages and benefits then and legal people were lined up waiting for a job. Monfort started the cheap labor by saying it would keep meat prices down. Hope you didn't fall for that, the excess profits went into the corporation's pockets. Legal citizens now subsidize swift's cheap illegal labor through social programs they take advantage of and is paid for by our taxes.
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Johnny
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03-26-08 11:37 PM
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"shouldn't come back with the same name." Who's name then? Yours? Since when is conspiracy to commit identity theft a job no one wants to do? Since when has this been considered okay? Swifts (the company) needs to get HAMMERED in the pocket book!
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usaguy
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03-26-08 11:37 PM
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12 months probation is not an adquate deterent for a crime like this. Not even close.
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123456
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03-26-08 11:09 PM
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You all complain so much about a job that no one wants to do, and about an issue that no one wants to come up with a realistic solution to. The next thing we will see on here is that we should build a wall around the border! Thats a great plan, right??
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LilBeaver
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03-26-08 8:34 PM
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Hey CycloneMom! Conspiracy to commit fraud, is the same as doing it yourself. The only reason for the different named charge is a technical wording of the law otherwise known as legalese.
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Stargazer
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03-26-08 4:33 PM
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And people wonder why swift has a poor public image. This is typical of the crap people accuse them of. Lamb should have spent at least a few weekends in jail close to those he seeks to hide in his workforce. Swift should be fined $10,000 per day per illegal so they have no incentive to hide them. This crap is why people who used to be quiet about illegals are now speaking up. Time for the lawmakers to start listening to the ones who voted them in.
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Johnny
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03-26-08 4:28 PM
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Ahhh our tax dollars hard at work! Why bother with any of it, if all the judge is going to do is slap their wrist? He got caught dead to rights doing exactly what everone thought he was doing!
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MTownResident
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03-26-08 3:38 PM
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Knowing documents you obtain are fraudulent and passing them on as true is fraud. Not just stupid. It is fraud. If he is hiring someone that he knows is using fake documents he is committing fraud. At the very least being an accessory to fraud. If you knowingly hire a con artist for your company you would be charged just the same as the perp you hired. I don't see how this would be any different.
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CycloneMom
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03-26-08 2:48 PM
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Personally, I think we need comprehensive immigration reform. And, I think that Lamb should be punished--we cannot curb illegal immigration unless the jobs are not available to them. However, I do not think this is an offense that should be punished by prison time. I think his real punishment is the realization that his actions were pretty dumb. There are plenty of people looking for work, and plenty will come up with fake doc's without help from someone else. To say he committed fraud is incorrect--you must have a part in the actual act of committing fraud. He only suggested it, which elicits a lesser charge. I have no sympathy for him, but please, be accurate with your criticisms.
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MTownResident
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03-26-08 9:03 AM
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12 months probation for fraud? That's all?
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