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Posted on 12/19/2001 10:18:09 PM PST by lewislynn

Dec. 19, 2001, 11:13PM

Indictment says Tyson used illegals

Chicken giant accused of smuggling conspiracy

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- Tyson Foods was accused Wednesday of conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens across the Mexican border to its U.S. poultry processing plants.

A federal grand jury in Chattanooga, in a 36-count indictment returned earlier this month and unsealed Wednesday, said the largest U.S. chicken processor tried to import illegal immigrants to cut costs at 15 plants, including one in the East Texas town of Center. The immigrants also were less likely to complain about poor working conditions, the indictment said.

"The bottom line on the corporate balance sheet is no excuse for criminal conduct," said Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, head of the Justice Department's criminal division.

Tyson, fined $6 million in 1998 for giving illegal gifts to a Cabinet officer, blamed its latest problems on a handful of executives who have been fired or placed on leave. The charge of a corporate conspiracy is "absolutely false," the company said in a statement.

The government said Tyson executives and managers, between 1994 and June of this year, helped the illegal workers obtain false documents to enter the United States.

The charges stem from a "few managers acting outside of company policy," Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson said in its statement. Four managers named in the indictment were fired months ago and two others are on administrative leave, said Ken Kimbro, a Tyson senior vice president.

"We will vigorously defend our business, our diverse work force and our reputation," he said.

In the past, Tyson officials have downplayed the company's role in booming Hispanic populations near its plants but acknowledged the poultry industry has benefited from Latino labor. The 15 Tyson plants implicated were in nine states -- Texas, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Tyson shares fell 73 cents to $10.86.

The indictment is the result of a 2 1/2-year undercover investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the government said in a statement. INS agents transported illegal aliens after they were smuggled across the border to processing plants, said U.S. Assistant Attorney John MacCoon.

Tyson managers also were accused of soliciting a smuggler to recruit and transport illegal aliens from Mexico.

The company has about 120,000 workers in the United States and Mexico, according to its Web site. Tyson Foods fostered the "appearance of compliance" with immigration law while hiring through temporary employment agencies workers the company knew were illegally in this country, the government said.

During a meeting in June 1998 with undercover agents, two Tyson managers asked for the delivery of 2,000 illegal Guatemalan workers, the indictment said. Undercover agents delivered Guatemalan aliens, smuggled across the Mexican border, in smaller groups over the ensuing months, the indictment said.

In July, one of the undercover agents received $3,113 for delivering seven illegal aliens to a Tyson plant in Shelbyville, Tenn. Five of them ended up working at that plant.

The indictment named two corporate executives, Robert Hash, a vice president in the retail fresh division, and Gerald Lankford, a former human resources manager.

Also indicted were four former managers, Keith Snyder, Truley Ponder, Spencer Mabe and Jimmy Rowland.

Earlier this month, the city of Tulsa, Okla., sued Tyson and four other poultry producers, accusing the companies of contaminating the city's drinking water with runoff from chicken and turkey farms.

The company has its roots in the Great Depression, when John Tyson, an Arkansas poultry farmer, founded it. His son, Don, now controls more than 80 percent of the company, and his grandson, John, is the chief executive.

Tyson became the top U.S. meat processor when it completed its $4.4 billion purchase of beef and pork producer IBP in September.

Tyson produced 8 billion pounds of poultry in the 2000 fiscal year, or about 24 percent of the U.S. poultry market, analysts estimate.

With the IBP acquisition, Tyson also controls 28 percent of the U.S. beef market and can slaughter up to 35,000 head of cattle a day.

In Tyson's earlier legal troubles, Archibald R. Schaffer III, a Tyson corporate spokesman, was convicted of violating the Meat Inspection Act for arranging for former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy to attend a 1993 birthday party for Don Tyson.

Tyson Foods was fined $4 million plus $2 million court costs in 1998 after pleading guilty to giving $12,000 in illegal gifts to Espy. That included tickets to a professional football playoff game in Dallas and a $1,200 scholarship for Espy's girlfriend.

In September, Schaffer was sentenced to one year in prison, the minimum sentence allowed by law.

Before he left office, President Clinton pardoned Schaffer.

Tyson Foods is on probation until Jan. 12 and could face fines and other penalties if found to have violated probation, MacCoon said.

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