BREAKING! RUBASHKIN CHARGED WITH 70 ADDITIONAL CRIMINAL COUNTS

Now faces 140 federal counts.

New indictment filed in kosher slaughterhouse case

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Former Iowa kosher slaughterhouse vice president Sholom Rubashkin has been named in a new 142-count indictment that adds 70 new charges.

The superseding indictment filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids replaces a previously filed 79-count indictment. The new filing adds 70 counts of harboring and aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented aliens for profit. It dismisses 7 counts of aiding and abetting identity theft and consolidates many previously filed charges against Agriprocessors Inc., Rubashkin and three other former managers at the plant.

The charges are the result of an investigation that began in October 2007 and has continued since the May 12, 2008 immigration raid at the Postville plant that resulted in the arrest of 389 people.

Entire new superseding indictment as a pdf file:

Download Rubashkin Superseding Indictment 5-15-09

Comments

[sage]

Many have posted on FM that SMR could do himself and others a lot of good by getting this over with, once and for all, by pleading guilty and facing the appropriate consequences.

Chances for this happening - $0.00.

[justice seeker]

"Only bullies and cowards steal from the poor..

They never have guts for the slam of the jail door."

[Bob C.]

Oh how Anti-Semitic and blood libelous!!!

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

The previous (fifth superceding) indictment can be found on this web site:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/files/413.pdf

The old indictment only listed the names of six individuals, all in the since-rescinded charge of Aiding and Abetting Aggravated Identity Theft. Sounds like the old "what we lose in margin we make up in volume". Now, its Miller time, pour a nice cold one and see if they will claim the grand jury was anti-semitic again.

[C-G]

I'm really relieved to see that the feds have shifted the burden of responsibility to where it belongs- with the employer. I hope this holds up, because without harsh penalties for aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented aliens for profit (ie making money off of slave labor), there can be no real immigration reform.

Does anyone else see the problem with extending citizenship to formerly undocumented workers, then expecting employers- who used them in the first place because they were cheap and exploitable- hiring them, offering legal wages and decent working conditions? That's delusional. That will only make for more unemployed Hispanic citizens (currently with the highest unemployment rates in the country) and another wave of illegal, exploitable people.

[justice seeker]

"Regrets"

I weep for vodka and Mountain Dew,
Piety in the slammer, faith renews

[justice seeker]

"Regrets 2"

Mexicans sent me to the slammer,
and gave me the flu!

All I did was hire'em
and steal from a few!

[Ben]

Why the FEDs waited so long and then hip 140 counts on him instead of slapping his hand years ago and preventing all the bad staff from happening?

Prevention would be a better course of action then vigorous prosecution.

I does look like they try to make an example of him.

[Avis Johnson]

I'm with Ben on this.....
Unfortunately the one things Law Enforcement detests... above anything else ....is a law abiding citizen.

[Avis Johnson]

And no I dont mean for moment that SMR was law abiding ... but wasn't there better way than destoying that town and the countless lives connected to this mess.

[Ben]

Just curious how many of the people commenting 1) eat meat? and if so 2) eat kosher meat?

[Ben (not the other Ben)]

I am reposting because I realize there is another Ben on this thread:

Just curious how many of the people commenting 1) eat meat? and if so 2) eat kosher meat?

[Hometown Postville]

"Why the FEDs waited so long.... preventing all the bad stuff from happening?"
It's evident the Rubashkins are extremely wealthy judging by the millions they've invested in attorney fees. Ethical or not, they have proven themselves by successfully whittling down some of the charges. The Feds must have known what a fight they would have trying to pin charges on the Rclan that would stick. So unfortunately, they had to wait for SMR to dig a hole big enough to bury himself before acting. In the meantime, the immigrants and now the town have suffered. What made it worse, even after the raid, Agri continued to advertise for more workers out of state whom they made grand promises that were not fullfilled, which is how Postville ended up with a glut of homeless people.

[State of Postville III]

To compound the problem the plant owes so many local businesses including the city and refuse to pay their bills. If this continues the town will be bankrupt, and the RCF do not see it as their responsibility. There are still ads for employment around areas of the country. The town will not survive with their continued presence. It may have a chance if they leave.

[Hometown Postville]

Can't something be done to stop those ads??? Certainly someone in the legal realm can come up with justification! People looking for jobs will continue to pour into Postville and some will have to stay having exhausted their resources to move on! What about charging some form of reverse discrimination against Agri?...are these jobs being offered to locals? Are they trying to gather a work force ready to go in case the bankruptcy/sale happens to get forced through last minute? Could retraction ads be placed in those same newspapers stating the current status of Agri?

[A E ANDERSON]

Much ado about nothing. The Feds are merely playing hardball: they just couldn't let their aggravated ID theft counts get tossed with impunity (even if they were clumsily drawn in the first place). The prosecutor needs to show who's the boss. Petty power play, at best. But I suppose this is how bottom-feeders on both sides like to play.

[Nachos]

Ben:

I eat meat all the time. In fact I actually produce animals that end up being eaten.

However, Ido not eat meat that has been koshered because it is not available where we live and because I do not believe all the bubbemeises that the rabbis have injected into the process.

[mordecai]

Looks like the government has a hard-on for the Rubashkins. Pretty soon we will need to use scientific notation to count the counts.

[sage]

And we'll also need scientific notation for the prison sentences handed down.