EXCLUSIVE: Rubashkin Alleged To Have Violated Conditions Of His Release, May Face Incarceration

Former Agriprocessors workers also allege health and safety violations, workplace discrimination and labor law violations.

I spoke with two former Agriprocessors workers today. What they told me was quite disturbing.

Carole and Tisha Doty are mother and daughter, Iowa natives from Waterloo. Tisha worked at Agriprocessors from June 3, 2008 until April 7, 2009. Carole worked at Agriprocessors for three months, from late January 2009 until April 30, 2009.

Both were fired after having work-related illnesses.

Carole Doty had what she called the "bird flu," which is not a real influenza but seems to be a bacterial illness, campylobacter, commonly caught from chickens. A PETA undercover investigator contracted campylobacter at Agriprocessors in 2006. Elizabeth Billmeyer, then Agriprocessors HR director, refused to pay for his medical care. Carole worked in the laundry and in the janitorial crew. Her job included cleaning the bathrooms used by other infected employees.

Carole's daughter Tisha Doty had carpal tunnel from using unsharpened shears to cut chicken.

Both say they had doctor's notes excusing them from work. 

Tisha Doty was switched to a job plucking chickens against the specific order of her doctor.

Carole Doty was fired the day she returned to work.

Agriprocessors calls this an "involuntary quit." But she was told a buyer was lined up for the plant and a sale was "just around the corner." She was encouraged to reapply for another job. She would be placed on a waiting list. The rate of pay for these potential jobs is $8.00 per hour, significantly lower than the $9.35 per hour Carole Doty made before being fired. She says she knows of about 30 other workers this happened to.

FailedMessiah.com exclusively reported Agriprocessors was firing and then rehiring workers at less pay 17 days ago. The Doty's stories confirm much of what I was told by others then.

Carole Doty received her health insurance card from Agriprocessors 3 days before she was fired. Doty believes this is a reason she was fired, and told me that "Trent Borton," Agriprocessors HR manager, told her the company needed to keep its expenses down until the company is sold. [His name is Trent Gorton and, as noted in the comments below, he was a safety manager at John Morrell before joining Agriprocessors as safety manager. Gorton later took over for Elizabeth Billmeyer,  Agriprocessors former HR manager who was indicted in late March. Billmeyer was locked out by Agriprocessors trustee Joseph Sarachek two weeks before those indictments were handed down, and Gorton assumed at least some of her duties.]

When asked, Agriprocessors trustee Joseph Sarachek said, "I don't know anything about it. I never heard the claim.…We have been and fully intend to continue to fully comply with all labor laws." He declined further comment, referring me instead to his attorney in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Tisha Doty tried to change shifts because she lost her daycare and needed to be home to care for her infant daughter. Doty says Agriprocessors HR manager Trent Gorton agreed to try to arrange the shift change. After several days of waiting, Doty asked Trent Gorton again.

Instead of a shift change, she says she was fired, but like her mother and other workers I've heard from, she was told by Gorton that she could reapply for another job at a lower rate of pay.

Instead,  Tisha Doty applied for unemployment. Agriprocessors claimed she was fired for cause. According to Doty, the state found no support for Agriprocessors claim.

Both workers spoke of safety issues at the plant, from the unsharpened shears Carole Doty was forced to use for three straight 10 hour shifts to untreated chemical spills and health issues.

The Dotys also say Sholom M. Rubashkin was inside Agriprocessors not long after his release on bail January 29, 2009. Tisha Doty says Rubashkin lectured poultry line workers about properly plucking feathers from chickens. Sholom Rubashkin complained the chickens had too many feathers remaining after processing. She remembers asking a fellow employee about Sholom Rubashkin's presence. "They own the plant," the employee said, "they can do whatever they want."

The time frame given by both workers matches a sighting of Rubashkin entering Agriprocessors made by another Agriprocessors employee.

If Sholom M. Rubashkin did enter Agriprocessors after his release from jail, this means he violated the order of protection given as part of his release on bail. That order forbids him from entering Agriprocessors property of contacting any Agriprocessors workers (other than specific family members and close friends).

This would mean Rubashkin could be rearrested and jailed until his trial is complete.

Agriprocessors trustee, Joseph Saracheck told me it was "impossible" for Rubashkin to have visited the plant after his release from jail.

Bob Teig, spokesman for the US Attorney, said the normal procedure in cases like this would be for the government to investigate the claims and then present the findings of that investigation to the court. The court would then decide whether to revoke Sholom Rubashkin's bail or alter the conditions of his release.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update 8:15 PM – I was told in February that Rubashkin was in the plant. So was at least one other journalist. I did not report it because I could not confirm it, and the employee would not use his name for fear of retribution.

About the same time, a Postville resident saw Rubashkin enter the plant.

I thought it was crazy, and asked to have someone stake out the plant with a video camera. But we didn't get film.

Then today I'm separately interviewing these women and out of the blue both tell me they saw Rubashkin in the plant after his release on bail.

Both know it was winter and very cold, and that there was ice and snow on the ground.

One specifically remembers this because she fell on the ice that same day.

Every one of these sightings confirms the others.

It is important to understand plant officials have repeatedly told workers they are not allowed to speak to the press, and most of these workers live in great fear of losing their jobs. They are for the most part poor people, who do not have the financial resources to survive if fired. That's why so many workers are afraid to come forward.

So why would Rubashkin do it?

I think it is because he believes the plant is his, that he is innocent, that what he did to get arrested is nothing different than what others do – it's just business, in his mind. He doesn't in any way understand his guilt or have any remorse for his actions. This is exactly the behavior shown by his brother Moshe in Allentown.

It may not make sense to you or to me, but it seems in the Rubashkin mind, going into the plant and violating the terms of his release somehow makes perfect sense.

Comments

[sage]

WOW!!!

Hope this is true and SMR is sent back to the slammer.

I'm going to have to double up on my libations of George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey this weekend.

PRAISE HaShem for his abundant mercy and justice!!!!!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Mountain Dew (based on a folksong of the same name)

My brother Shol made bail in the jail
Where he drank up a gallon or two
And the choppers in the sky get so hyper they can not fly
Just from sniffing that good old mountain dew.

Chorus
They call it that good old mountain dew,
Lubavs that refuse it are few.
I'll hush up my punim if you'll fill up my gullet
With that good old mountain dew.

My lawyer schlmiel had an automobile,
It ran on a gallon or two.
It didn't need no gas and it didn't need no oil,
It just ran on that good old mountain dew.

Repeat chorus

My uncle Mort, he is kleineh and short,
He measure 'bout four foot two,
But he thinks he's Golyat when you give him a draught
Of that good old mountain dew.

repeat chorus

The rabbi -he walked by, with a big tear in his eye
Said that his wife had swine flu
And hadn't I ought just to give him a quart
Of that good old mountain dew

chorus

Mr. Barack Obama, he told me 'bout his mamma
The day the new healthcare plan went through:
If your likker's too red, it will swell up your head
Better stick to that good old mountain dew

repeat chorus

[s]

did they learn anything from having their 7 year old daughter/grandaughter Aaliyayah fall out of a window with no screen in a rented house in Postville and break her arm, as reported in the Sept. 21st Waterloo newspaper? Sad to read both mother and daughter have run into problems working there.

[Equal T i m e]

--January 29, 2009--

I find it hard to believe that even Shalom Rubashkin wpuld wait exactly less than 1 day to violate the terms of his release - knowing that the prosecution was chomping at the bit to throw him back in the slammer - WHILE wearing an ankle bracelet (isn't that a female "garment"?) that tracks exactly where he goes, ONLY does it once, and........

..........we're just now (nearly four months later) hearing about it.

Wish you'd retitle this thread - the tragic and enethical story of Carole and Tisha Doty are the real issue here.

Shabbat Shalom

[Avis Johnson]

Equal Time - Excellent point.

[uncle vic]

it is Trent Gorton not Borton he came from John Morrells in sioux falls he was the safety manager before elizabeth was let go

[Dark Side of The Moon]

This story is a crock of crap. If Rubaskin had been on the premises, it would show up on his GPS anklet. The old ragged GPS I had on my fishing boat could get me within 50 ft of a spot in the middle of the ocean.

[Shmarya]

I find it hard to believe that even Shalom Rubashkin wpuld wait exactly less than 1 day to violate the terms of his release - knowing that the prosecution was chomping at the bit to throw him back in the slammer - WHILE wearing an ankle bracelet (isn't that a female "garment"?) that tracks exactly where he goes, ONLY does it once, and........

I was told in February that Rubashkin was in the plant. So was at least one other journalist. I did not report it because I could not confirm it, and the employee would not use his name for fear of retribution.

About the same time, a Postville resident saw Rubashkin enter the plant.

I thought it was crazy, and asked to have someone stake out the plant with a video camera. But we didn't get film.

Then today I'm separately interviewing these women and out of the blue both tell me they saw Rubashkin in the plant after his release on bail.

Both know it was winter and very cold, and that there was ice and snow on the ground.

One specifically remembers this because she fell on the ice that same day.

Every one of these sightings confirms the others.

Why would Rubashkin do it?

Because he believes the plant is his, that he is innocent, that what he did to get arrested is nothing different than what others do – it's just business. He doesn't in any way understand his guilt or have any remorse. This is exactly the behavior shown by his brother Moshe in Allentown.

It may not make sense to you or to me, but in the Rubashkin mind, going into the plant and violating the terms of his release makes perfect sense.

[Hometown Postville]

Nothing was said until now because people like the Doty's feared for their jobs. As ugly as those jobs were, they put food on the table. People with little education or skills have few choices.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

I think I have seen all sides of the disputes between employers, employees, and unions. I once worked in a place and had to join the union. This union would stick up for every member, regardless if the union member was right or wrong. I worked for old line, lifetime employment companies where the supervisors were pathological liars and strung the employees along. I have relatives who are supervisors in the Federal Government who have tried to remove recalcitrant unionized federal employees that were disrupting the government's efforts to provide services to its taxpayers. They were put through hell to get rid of them. I know a guy who ran into Al Sharpton in the offices of a union representing City of New York employees. At the time, Al Sharpton apparently was a consultant to the union, protecting public employees facing disciplinary proceedings. I know people for whom their union has fairly protect their interests.

Complaints from citizens and employees such as we have seen here have a right to be heard and investigated. Some of these complaints will be legit, some will be made because of genuine mis-diagnosis on the part of the citiaen, and some reports will just be plain...........

Juat about any lawsuit-savvy company today forbids their employees to talking to the press or the public. Whistleblowers, however, have served this country well.

In a comment on this web site on January 2nd, 2009 I posted about the matter of the George A. Tomasso Construction Corporation:
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2008/12/government-resp/comments/page/3/
So, I think anything is possible.

[Hometown Postville]

I work in a non-union sector that has been historically underpaid, however, we must abide by the same rules as co-workers with higher professional status who are unionized. Recently, our (non-union)group met to hear updates within the profession. Included in the minutes of the meeting which were(mandatorily) shared with the CEO, were a couple generic comments questioning our liability without the union and reporting that a group from another region had unionized and a rep from that group could probably answer those questions. Our CEO blew a gasket when he read this and ripped a few of us apart saying he "did not want to hear any talk about unions!!" We work in an industry with a fluctuating budget so one never knows what the next year will bring. We know if we unionize, prior to implementation, some of us would be laid off to compensate for the remaining worker's jump in pay and we would have more work dumped on us to make up for the missing ones. So we are in a catch 22. Living in a depressed rural area, you put up with a lot to keep your job no matter how crappy the pay. There might not be another one like it for 50-75 miles and word of mouth travels fast in these circles- NO ONE wants to be labeled as being hungry for the union when your next employer is likely to hear about it.

[State of Postville III]

Does a leopard change his spots?? No, this plant will not change their policies. SR was no doubt at the plant. It was rumored he was, too bad no one with a cellphone didn't take his picture. It is not easy living in a depressed rural area, nor is it easy living anywhere due to the job situation. Employers take advantage of folks who need jobs, and the example is in our town--these people are extremely vulnerable.

[A E ANDERSON]

Aside from the GPS monitoring, which should conclusively put the matter to rest, I must question whether two gentile women could distinguish among various bearded, Brooklyn-accented hasidim even on a really good day. I went to yeshiva and at time I can't tell 'em apart even on Kingston Avenue & Eastern Parkway.

[rr]

I have two realtives working in the plant and one worked with Tish, she said it was not Sholom it was Heshy, and if you don't personally know the two, it is difficult to tell them apart, especially when they are suited up in the garb you have to wear in that area. Heshy was coming into the plant allot for a short time complaining about feathers and rightly so.
From what I am hearing from the people that are still there working, Sholom has not been in the plant, but some people will do anything to acuse or twist the truth, and stir things up.
The people I know are asking coworkers about the rumor of people being fired and rehired at a lower rate of pay, and they are saying the people being fired are because of drugs or because they won't come to work. They have not spoken to one person that was fired and told to reapply to work for a lower rate of pay.

[uncle vic]

how about Wayne Hecker foaming at the mouth every Sunday high on heroin screaming at everyone I was hired to take his place on the non kosher side he was smoking crack in his car in the company parking lot everyone knew about it brent bebee told me yeah he is a mess but has alot of knowledge

[uncle vic]

how about Manuel Garcia ????????brought him in to solve the problems sexual harrassment and cocaine go hand and hand

[yabed]

Word on the street is that a Canadien company put up the $$ to the bank and is about to buy the company.

This will still be a Rubashkin operation and Rubashkins will still be pulling the strings. They still think that the goverment people are idiots.

[Shmarya]

have two realtives working in the plant and one worked with Tish, she said it was not Sholom it was Heshy, and if you don't personally know the two, it is difficult to tell them apart, especially when they are suited up in the garb you have to wear in that area. Heshy was coming into the plant allot for a short time complaining about feathers and rightly so.
From what I am hearing from the people that are still there working, Sholom has not been in the plant, but some people will do anything to acuse or twist the truth, and stir things up.

Both of these women know Heshy and talked about seeing him in the plant, as well. They clearly know the difference between Sholom and Heshy – as, by the way, do I.

The people I know are asking coworkers about the rumor of people being fired and rehired at a lower rate of pay, and they are saying the people being fired are because of drugs or because they won't come to work. They have not spoken to one person that was fired and told to reapply to work for a lower rate of pay.

There are no drug problems involved with these two women and there were none with several other employees I've heard from.

[Shmarya]

Word on the street is that a Canadien company put up the $$ to the bank and is about to buy the company.

This will still be a Rubashkin operation and Rubashkins will still be pulling the strings. They still think that the goverment people are idiots.

That might be because I exclusively reported it a week ago:

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2009/05/exclusive-who-bought-agriprocessors-10-million-line-of-credit.html

[Chicago Samson]

Here's what I see coming down the road; Rubashkin is going to get a slap on the wrist, and after serving several months in jail, he will be back at work again in Postville.

Being the creature of habit he is, within the next year or so, new charges will be made, and once again a new scandal will result in a second jail-sentence--but next time the judge won't be so easy on him. Like OJ, justice comes in its own time. For Rubashkin's sake, and for the sake of the workers, I hope he gets out of Kashrut business--for good.

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

Yochanan -
"Mountain Dew" was written by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1945. His "other" famous song is "I wish I was a Mole in the Ground."
Another case of "folksongs" being songs written by people whose names we forgot, or whose copyright got ripped off.

Lunsford ran the Ashville NC Folk Festival. That's where Pete Seeger said he first heard a the string banjo. Can you imagine Tzena Tzena without a banjo?

[Yochanan Lavie]

OCR: Thanks for the info.

[s]

maybe people looking for extra income could sponsor another Wadena Rock Festival (humor-as done in 1972- near Postville.

[Equal T i m e]

--It may not make sense to you or to me, but in the Rubashkin mind, going into the plant and violating the terms of his release makes perfect sense.--

You may be right - this may indeed be a case where there is no logical answer (if he in fact visited the plant).

One thing SEEMS certain - there is enough doubt in this thread alone to circumvent any action by the prosecutor UNLESS the GPS says he was there.

[mordecai]

When you hold the Goyish Government in contempt and its rules then what a judge says does not matter. After all these rules arise from the defective souls of the goy that come from the unclean kelipot where nothing is good. The goy souls are on an equal level with those of worms and other unclean animals. At least this is what the Tanya yeaches and this is the "bible" of Chabad.

Starting from this creed it is easy to see how any true believer would despise all goy-derived laws and rules and old the same in utter contempt. So what if the judge said not to commit some act. Was it a Jewish judge? Was it a Chabad judge?

[itchiemayer]

So Mordecai - knowing this is the "bible" of Chabad, why would you have davened at a Lubavitcher shul? I would not daven at a lubavitch shul, and I really don't like when the MO community in my city go out of their way to cooperate with them as if they are not a bunch of "crazy chabadniks", which we all know they are.

[yidandahalf]

Interesting post, itchie. mordecai no longer davens by Chabad, isn't it? But anyway, I also see many spineless types cooperating with the rebbeisgodrisenmessiah.com crowd. It makes me sick and when cornered they would say that we have to do this because they are Jews, we are all Jews and blah, blah, blah. NO, the assholes are all a type of enabler. Being a yid no longer should have anything to do with it.

[Shmarya]

One thing SEEMS certain - there is enough doubt in this thread alone to circumvent any action by the prosecutor UNLESS the GPS says he was there.

Not at all. There are four separate sightings of him in the plant after his release on bail.

The GPS is apparently being used only to track any movement outside the borders of Postville.

This is a quite common use.

At any rate, I don't think the government thought he would violate his protection order, and it certainly was not looking for it.

[mordecai]

Itchiemeyer:

I must confess that for once you are making an excellent point in saying "why did you daven at a Lubavitcher shul."

Call it a failing in my character, or perhaps casting a blind eye, or perhaps choosing to believe that the Tanya was written in an unenlightened age when Jews were horrible persecuted, what have you.

I also highly respected some individuals within Chabad and have seen acts of great charity by some Chabad-niks.

Also I liked driving over the causeway early in the morning and seeing the sun rise. The davening is generally a private affair and I was near the torah which is the same torah as everywhere.

Anyway that is the long and the short of it.

[Equal T i m e]

--At any rate, I don't think the government thought he would violate his protection order, and it certainly was not looking for it.--

Bet they are looking now.

Did a little research - the ankle GPS Shalom is wearing is accurate to about 16 feet, and can be set to signal if "exclusion zones" was breached (and you reported back in November that the plant is such a zone). While the anklet sends a constant signal, monitoring computers receive and log a signal once a minute, providing a definitive map of where Shalom wandered back in November.

I suppose IF he knew how to time the signal, he could have run in and out - but he would have had to have been fast.

I personally don't place much stock in eye witnesses (which I concede is not overly Jewish of me) for EITHER side of this. The tale will be told by the computer - either he went in (and by Monday will be back in the slammer) or he did not (in which case we likely will hear bupkis).

For the record - I absolutely share your distaste for and distrust of the Rubashkins. Unlike you - I still have faith that justice will be done and that he faces a very, VERY long time in prison.

But who knows - you've been right more often than you've been wrong on this subject.

[Menachem]

You are truly a sick man, scott, may g-d do to you all that wish upon Rubashkin and worse.
For the sake of your website and whichever sick fans you may have you are willing to do anything...

Nauseating

[Equal T i m e]

--You are truly a sick man, scott, may g-d do to you all that wish upon Rubashkin and worse.--

What seems sick (to me anyway) is that you used a capital letter to spell Rubashkin, and a lower case "g" to invoke HaShem.

You might wish to revisit "lo yiye l'cha elohim acharim al p'nai"?

[fair is fair]

All of you commenting on this crack me up.
1. Sholom was not in the plant, that would have made world news the day it happened. I remember, being questioned after someone said sholom was there and infact it was Heshy.
There is no reason to feel sorry for the Doty's.
2. Tisha could have been a good worker had she wanted to keep working.
3. Carol was let go for attendance, and not one occurance but 27 days missed in three months.
Any company would not put up with attendance records like that. Why don't you all just let well enough alone. Either let the company take off again or crash. Let it be what it is.

[state of disgust]

We did "let it be what it is."
That is why the kehilla is in the state that is, why the institution of kashrut is black and blue, and why we are all embarassed by this company of thieves and crooks. We are no longer willing to be silent. We are no longer willing to have "kosher" food produced in our name by people who want to separate kashrut from yashrut. Your unwillingness to admit the total and complete moral failure associated with and exhibited by the Agriprocessor scandel speaks volumes.

[sage]

While we are somewhat preoccupied with the Federal Case and SMR's whereabouts, the Iowa Case on Child Labor Law Violations is approaching.

The last we heard was that the trial venue is at a fair distance (70 miles) from Postville and SMR's Legal Counsel has filed a motion that all of the 9511 Counts in the Indictment be dropped. No word yet in the Judges' Ruling.

If the trial goes forward and the defendants, AR,SMR,etc. are convicted, this could be devastating to the RCF.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed.

[Barney]

I know for a fact that Sholom wasnt or hasnt been in the plant since his release.