July 16, 2007

Guilty plea in government's probe of immigration violations at IFCO Systems

ALBANY, N.Y. - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Special Agent in Charge (Buffalo) Lev Kubiak and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York Glenn T. Suddaby announced the guilty plea of Abelino Chicas, 41, of Houston, Texas, a systems manager for the Pallet Management Division of IFCO Systems North America (IFCO).

Chicas pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn in Albany, N.Y., to the felony offense of aiding and abetting the transportation and harboring of illegal aliens. At his sentencing on Nov. 8, 2007, Chicas faces a potential sentence of up to five years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

The guilty plea stems from the government's investigation of illegal employment-related practices at IFCO's pallet management services plants, which procure, recondition and distribute wood pallets. On April 19, 2006, ICE agents arrested seven current and former IFCO managers, including Chicas, and executed search warrants at nine IFCO facilities, including IFCO's U.S. headquarters in Houston. At the same time, ICE agents conducted a worksite enforcement action at over 40 IFCO pallet plants nationwide. ICE detained nearly 1,200 illegal aliens who were working at the plants.

On Feb. 27, 2007, five current and former IFCO managers pled guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from the government's investigation. These included:

• Robert Blevin of Stuart, Fla., former General Manager, Albany IFCO plant, Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Illegal Aliens and Conspiracy to Possess Identification Documents with the Intent to Use Unlawfully (felonies);
• James Rice of Houston, Texas, former corporate New Market Development Manager, Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Illegal Aliens (felony);
• Michael Ames of Shrewsbury, Mass., General Manager, Westborough, Mass., IFCO plant, Unlawful Employment of Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor);
• Dario Salzano of Amsterdam, N.Y., Assistant General Manager, Albany IFCO plant, Unlawful Employment of Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor);
• Scott Dodge of Elmira, N.Y., former Assistant General Manager, Albany IFCO plant, Conspiracy to Unlawfully Employ Illegal Aliens (misdemeanor).

A sixth manager, Craig Losurdo of Arlington, Tenn., pleaded guilty on March 28, 2007, to the misdemeanor crime of unlawfully employing illegal aliens while employed as an assistant general manager at IFCO's Albany plant. William Hoskins of Cincinnati, Ohio, an IFCO New Market Development Manager, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of New York on charges related to his role in the unlawful immigration practices uncovered by the government's investigation, and is pending trial. An indictment is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent of the charges until proven guilty.

In connection with his guilty plea today, Chicas admitted that from sometime in 1990, when he started out as a foreman at the Houston plant of Texas Pallet (acquired by IFCO in September 2000), through in or about April 2006, he transported and harbored illegal aliens in the United States. At the request of senior and plant managers at Texas Pallet and IFCO, Chicas found pallet workers for the companies' plants that he knew or recklessly disregarded were illegal aliens who had no work authorization documents or possessed false documents. He sent illegal alien workers to several Texas/National Pallet and IFCO plants, primarily to the plants in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hammond, La., Albany, N.Y., and locations in Texas. He trained foremen and workers in these plants and many others, knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact that the workers were illegal aliens. Chicas also hired several workers he knew or recklessly disregarded were illegal aliens at IFCO's St. Louis plant between November 2005 and January 2006. He reported problems with the identification documents and Social Security numbers presented by some of these workers to his supervisor who instructed Chicas to hire the workers if they could present documents, regardless of the quality.

Between November 2004 and December 2005, Chicas assisted IFCO's New Market Development Manager James Rice and Albany General Manager Robert Belvin find Hispanic pallet workers. He discussed the illegal status of the workers he was sending to the Albany plant with managers, including Rice and Belvin. In the case of one of the illegal alien workers that he helped send to Albany, Chicas knew that the alien had entered the United States from Nicaragua to join his son at the Albany IFCO plant. Chicas suggested to the alien's son that he obtain a loan from the managers in Albany to pay to get his father into the U.S., and after the alien entered the United States, Chicas arranged for an acquaintance to house him and to transport him toward Albany to work at IFCO. During the government's investigation, Chicas was captured on several recorded telephone calls, including calls in which he helped plan a failed attempt to transport seven illegal aliens from Houston to Albany to work at IFCO.

The criminal investigation is being conducted by ICE; the New York State Police, Upstate New York Regional Intelligence Center (UNYRIC) and Special Investigation Unit; the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General; the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; and the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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