Agriprocessors Managers Hit With New 142-Count Indictment

By JTA May 18, 2009

Federal prosecutors filed a new 142-count criminal indictment against former managers of Agriprocessors.

The new filing, made Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern Iowa, replaces a 79-count indictment issued in March. Former plant manager Sholom Rubashkin and fellow managers now face 71 counts of harboring illegal immigrants, in addition to other charges.

Prosecutors dropped identity theft charges in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that would have made conviction on those charges difficult to achieve.

Agriprocessors was the nation’s largest producer of kosher meat before a massive federal immigration raid last year resulted in the arrest of hundreds of its employees and set off a cascade of legal problems for the company, which ultimately filed for bankruptcy protection.

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