Fresh Mark Incorporated, a Northeast Ohio-based company that supplies meat products to all 50 states and more than 20 countries, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The company paid a nearly $4 million penalty for a hiring manager’s involvement in an identity theft scheme and subsequent obstruction of justice.
Between 2013 and 2018, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arrested multiple Fresh Mark employees illegally in the United States who used stolen identities to gain employment with the company.
According to court documents, Yelwin Omar Munoz-Solis, 43, of Salem, Ohio, was a hiring manager at Fresh Mark’s Salem facility. He conspired with others to steal the identities of U.S. citizens and give them to job applicants at Fresh Mark’s meat processing plants. He then certified I-9 documents, which are used to verify identity and employment eligibility in the United States.
Munoz-Solis was charged and subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and making false statements on immigration forms submitted to HSI.
On June 19, 2018, Homeland Security Special Agents served search warrants at Fresh Mark’s processing facilities in Salem, Massillon, and Canton, Ohio. Agents detained 146 migrants working at the facility who were in the United States without legal status. Approximately 30 of those individuals were later charged with immigration violations in federal court.
The raid on the three facilities involved nearly 100 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents, Customs and Border Protection officers, and Border Patrol agents. It was the largest worksite enforcement operation conducted during the first Trump administration. Shortly after the worksite raid, HSI Special Agent in Charge in Michigan and Ohio told reporters, “Unlawful employment is one of the key magnets drawing illegal aliens across our borders. Businesses who knowingly harbor and hire illegal aliens as a business model must be held accountable for their actions.”
Officials investigated after the worksite raid uncovered the identity theft scheme that allowed hundreds of migrants not authorized to work in the United States to gain employment based on the hiring manager’s actions.
“Stealing identities to transfer to others not eligible to work is not an acceptable business practice,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Rebecca Lutzko. “Employers must ensure that their hiring practices comply with all federal laws, and businesses caught providing false statements to the government will be held to account.”
Under the agreement, Fresh Mark Incorporated paid a $3,719,997 penalty and will abide by compliance reporting requirements for two years, according to the United States Attorney’s office. Pursuant to the Victims of Crime Act Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021, the money will go to the federal Crime Victims Fund.
President Joe Biden drastically reduced the number of large-scale workplace enforcement raids shortly after taking office. However, President-Elect Donald Trump signaled a return to such enforcement actions, along with mass deportation efforts, under the direction of future Border Czar Tom Homan.
In an October appearance on CBS 60 Minutes, Homan indicated that worksite enforcement efforts would be a significant part of the incoming administration’s border security strategy.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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