WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A federal grand jury in Chattanooga, Tenn., has returned a 36-count indictment against executives and managers of Tyson Foods Inc., for conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens to its U.S. facilities for profit, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
The company immediately disputed the government's allegations.
Tyson is the world's largest producer, processor, and marketer of poultry-based food products in the United States.
The indictment, unsealed Wednesday in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, is the result of a two and a half year undercover investigation conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service into the business practices of Tyson Foods, the department said.
"Tyson Foods executives and managers are accused in the indictment of conspiring to import and transport illegal alien workers from the Southwest border to Tyson plants throughout the United States," the department said in a statement. "Fifteen Tyson Foods plants in nine states have been implicated in this conspiracy to defraud the United States government."
INS Commissioner James Ziglar said, "This case represents the first time INS has taken action against a company of Tyson's magnitude."
According to the indictment, Tyson Foods cultivated a corporate culture in which the hiring of illegal alien workers was condoned in order to meet production goals and cut costs to maximize profits.
The indictment describes an alleged scheme by which the defendants requested delivery of illegal aliens to work at Tyson plants in the United States and aided and abetted them in obtaining false documents so they could work at Tyson poultry processing plants "under the false pretense of being legally employable."
In addition to charging Tyson Foods, the indictment includes two corporate executives, Robert Hash, vice president, Retail Fresh Division, and Gerald Lankford, former human resources manager, Retail Fresh.
Also indicted are four former managers: Keith Snyder, complex manager, Noel, Mo.; Truley Ponder, former complex manager, Shelbyville, Tenn.; Spencer Mabe, former plant manager, Shelbyville; and Jimmy Rowland, former complex personnel manager, Shelbyville.
In a statement released from Tyson's headquarters in Springdale, Ark., the company said it would defend itself.
"The prosecutor's claim in this indictment of a corporate conspiracy is absolutely false," the statement said. "In reality, the specific charges are limited to a few managers who were acting outside of company policy at five of our 57 poultry processing plants. As a result of an internal investigation several months ago, four managers named in the indictment were terminated, and two others are now on administrative leave, pending the outcome of this matter."
The company said it also "has a long history of partnering" with INS "to ensure corporate compliance with immigration laws" and "we will continue to cooperate."
The company said it has "taken a number of actions to help ensure that all of our team members are legally documented" and trains its managers in "methods for detecting improperly documented workers."
The company charged that the "indictment came because Tyson refused to agree to the prosecutor's outrageous financial demands" that would have resulted in a settlement, and said "we will vigorously defend our business, our diverse work force and our reputation."
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, the Bedford County, Tenn., Sheriff's Department, the Shelbyville Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol participated in this INS investigation.
