Indictments against vendor in child labor charges involving Accomack Poultry Plant unsealed

By Linda Cicoira

Criminal indictments with suspect names redacted were filed in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk earlier this month and then recently unsealed.

The charges involve teenagers and adults who were illegally hired to work at food processing plants across the country between 2020 and 2024, including a poultry plant in Accomack referred to in the court documents only as Company 1.

Among the counts were conspiracy to defraud and commit offenses against the United States, harboring illegal aliens, aggravated identity theft, unlawful transfer of fake IDs, paying employees with prepaid payroll and disbursement cards rather than through traditional bank accounts, reusing the fake IDs, and exploiting minors to work in unsafe labor conditions.

Fayette Industrial, or a subsidiary of the company, was contracted by the poultry plant to handle cleaning operations.

One suspect was referred to as FNU LNU, or Palencia, and by the last four digits of two phone numbers. He lived in Parksley when the crimes were alleged to have occurred and is accused of selling fake IDs to people, including co-conspirators, who used the documents to conceal their status.

It was unclear from the records why the names were being withheld.

Another suspect was a Guatemalan citizen who did not have legal status in the U.S. That suspect used an alias that was not disclosed and was the site manager for Fayette in Accomack for about three years, ending around January 2024, when the contract between Fayette and the plant was terminated. The court file stated that the suspect continued to work for Fayette in Pennsylvania. The suspect was “responsible for the direct oversight” of two nightly cleaning shifts at the local plant and for recruiting new employees, the indictment stated.

Another suspect was a division manager for Fayette from 2018 to 2024 and oversaw contracts for six plants, including the one in Accomack.

A fourth defendant began working as a clerk for Fayette in 2020 and later became a regional division human resource manager from January 2022 to October 2023. The suspect was responsible for 35 processing plants from North Carolina to Rhode Island, including the Accomack plant. This employee also reviewed documents regarding citizenship and immigration services, which are used to verify identity and authorization for employment.

It was widely reported that in February of 2022, a 14-year-old was working at Perdue Foods under the pretense that he was an adult. He sustained a severe arm injury while cleaning one of the poultry processing machines and was pulled into the machine after his clothing caught on a belt, which brought the incident into the public eye and to federal authorities

About a year and a half later, the indictment stated, another employee who lacked the legal status to work in the U.S. was told by Fayette employees that “she could no longer work there because she looked young and minors were not allowed.” She presented her actual birth certificate from Guatemala, which showed her true name and date of birth,” the indictment stated. She continued to work there “for a short time” until she was again told she had to leave “because she looked young.”

The court record showed that counterfeit social security cards were sold for $250, and in one case $3,300 was paid through a cash app for fake ID documents.

Yet another immigrant cleaner was reported to have lacked legal status and first worked for Fayette as a cleaner and then as a secretary at the poultry plant.

A Homeland Security investigation found that 339 of 353 Fayette employees at the plant were “working under suspect documents,” the indictment stated. About 293 of 353 employees submitted state identification cards from Delaware to North Carolina to support their employment. “Databases revealed that approximately 284 of the 293 driver’s license numbers were invalid numbers or were rejected due to the wrong identification number format.”

Fayette has since been fined about $650,000 and no longer has a contract with the plant.

In an agreement with the Department of Justice, Perdue agreed to pay $4 million in restitution to affected children, child labor advocacy organizations, and initiatives aimed at preventing child labor exploitation. The company also agreed to a $150,000 civil monetary penalty. Similarly, SMX, a company that contracted with Perdue, consented to a $125,000 civil penalty and has been permanently barred from future Fair Labor Standards Act child labor violations in the meat processing and packing industry.

Fayette reportedly commented as follows: “Fayette was not aware of the pending indictments prior to the recent filings. Fayette has not been contacted directly by authorities regarding the individuals named and none of the individuals remain employed by Fayette. Fayette complies with Federal I-9 and E-Verify requirements on all hires. The matters referenced in the court filings concern alleged actions of former individuals acting outside of company policy. Fayette follows strict hiring and compliance procedures and will fully cooperate with authorities if contacted.”