LOWELL — Four business owners face federal charges related to harboring illegal aliens who were paid to catch chickens.
Charges of conspiracy to harbor, transport and employ illegal aliens were announced Friday by the U.S. attorney's office against four people the government claims own or control Amador Poultry Contracting and J&A Loading.
Leoncio Amador-Villanueva, 42, Jose "Manuel" Amador-Villanueva, 39, and Kelle Stubbs-Amador, 32, all of Alma, and Juan Amador-Villanueva, 43, of Batesville face up to 10 years in prison and fines of $250,000 for the charges.
Luis Felipe Martinez, 32, of Lowell was charged with causing a financial institution to file a false Currency Transaction Report, which carries a five-year sentence and a fine of up to $250,000.
Martinez' charges resulted from the investigation of the two businesses, which lead to arrests of 18 illegal aliens since April 15. A civil forfeiture action was also filed againstproperties police believe are tied to the allegations. Properties included in the investigation include two in Alma, one in Batesville, one in Atkins, one in Lamar and one in Gonzales, Texas.
During the course of the investigation federal agents arrested several people suspected of living and working in the country illegally, court records show. One employee, arrested in a van with seven other employees, told police they were paid in cash, based on the number of chickenscaught.
The rate was $2 per 1,000 chickens caught, court records show. On April 15, two employees of Amador Poultry Contracting were arrested with $15,967, which Manuel Amador told police was for paying employees of the company, owned by Stubbs-Amador.
The investigation also revealed that large amounts of money from poultry production companies had been deposited into numerous bank accounts owned by the defendants, court records show.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 12 on 09/26/2009