Member Of Agriprocessors Car Extortion Ring Sentenced

Headed by Agriprocessors manager Hosam Amara, the ring forced undocumented workers to buy used cars at highly inflated prices in return for getting jobs at Agriprocessors.

Alvaro Julian Garcia Jr was a bit player in this scam. The ringleader was Hosam Amara. Amara can't be prosecuted because he fled to Israel with the help of Sholom Rubashkin.

Jeff Reinitz – who did not cover this story when it began – apparently does not know how Amara got to Israel or how the scam itself worked.

Man sentenced in vehicle title scheme

By JEFF REINITZ • Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

POSTVILLE --- The only person to be convicted in a vehicle title scheme that catered to illegal immigrants at Agriprocessors meatpacking plant has been sentenced.

U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade sentenced Alvaro Julian Garcia Jr., 73, of Burlington, to 60 days in jail followed by two years of supervised release, according to court records.

Authorities allege Garcia registered vehicles that were sold to undocumented workers in Postville between 2004 and 2006.

He pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy to harbor undocumented aliens for financial gain.

Court records list others involved in the vehicle case --- including Hosam Amara.

Amara, 45, was a poultry manager at Agriprocessors who currently is a federal fugitive believed to be living in Israel. He faces harboring charges, according to authorities.

Garcia's defense attorney, John Bishop of Cedar Rapids, said in court records the title scheme was just one thread of a larger network that allowed workers and residents in the meatpacking town to earn a living and remain in the U.S.

Bishop noted that others provided forged Social Security cards, transported illegal immigrants to Iowa and provided them jobs.

[Hat Tip: NeighborGirl.]

Comments

[nachos]

The guy is 73, This could be a life sentence for him!! I am outraged!!

[kaylie]

what a scam!

what do they mean ,'hosam amara cannot be prosecuted bc he fled to israel' .
us prosecutors can have him extradited to the us , like they did for the owner of the electronic co ' crazy eddie , his prices are insane'......years ago .

[I rather not say]

Amara is an Arab name

Might not be in Israel proper anymore

[harold]

Alvaro Julian Garcia Jr., 73

Does not sound haredi to me. Haredim do not usually do the "Jr" thing. Must be a Bal Teshuva.

[Shmarya]

what do they mean ,'hosam amara cannot be prosecuted bc he fled to israel' .
us prosecutors can have him extradited to the us , like they did for the owner of the electronic co ' crazy eddie , his prices are insane'......years ago .

Israel does not easily extradite.

Anyway, the State Department, not the prosecutors, have to do the extradition, and the State Department never comments on extradition cases until the extradition actually happens.

[state of disgust]

I interviewed dozens of undocumented workers who were victims of the Amara scam. Here is an example of how it worked.
I interviewed a 15 year old Mexican boy who came to Postville to work at Agri. He applied for a job and was turned down when he gave his true age.
Other workers told him to go se Amara at his home (Amara's home was owned by Rubashkin BTW - company perk). The boy met Amara and said he wanted a job. Amara responded, I have a car to sell, would you like to buy it? The boy told him he had no money to buy a car. Amara responded that it was OK, if he bought the car the boy could come to work on Monday morning, and every pay day, the boy could come to Amara's house and pay him $50 until the car was paid for. The boy agreed. Amara called HR, approved the hire to work in his department and told the kid everything was arranged and he should go to HR on Monday morning. The price of the car: $3500. Estimated real value $1500. The car was a junker. According to some in Postville these were cars people had donated to charities and were barely running. I asked the boy if he had insurance. Answer: no. I asked him if he knew how to drive. Answer: I do now. A friend taught me.
Several car owners told me the cars stopped running shortly after they "bought" them. Others said that after the cars were paid for, Amara would insist they buy a new one from him - the price of keeping their jobs.
There are other wrinkles to this story - too much to go into here. But SMR knew about the car scam.
I confronted SMR about the scam. He said he had put a stop to it some time ago, because used car dealers in the area were complaining that Amara was selling cars without a license. (A lie. One or two local people in Postville complained to SMR and I believe, the Police became involved).
It was after that, I met the Mexican boy who a few weeks following my discussion with SMR had been forced to buy a car from Amara as the price for getting a job at the plant.
A wild guesstimate: Over the many years he was at Agri, Amara made over $400,000 net profit from this scam by fleecing undocumented workers.

[kaylie]

it took 3 years for the state department to locate eddie antar { crazy eddie , electronic giant fraudster } , who fled to israel , then switzerland to get him back to the us in 1993 .
antar served only 9 years in jail ( instead of 30 years ) bc he pleaded guilty and paid huge amount of fine .

the state dept can easily locate hosam amara ( it will take them 2, 3 years - may be more , depending where he is -
and get him extradited to the us .

amara will pay , sooner or later .

i hope the S.D is working on it , since amara fled the country .

if they want , the S.D can get him .

[Yochanan Lavie]

1 877 CARS FOR CONS (repeat, etc.)
Buy a clunker today.

[Alvaro J. Garcia 3rd]

Iam the son of the 73 year old man that was arrested Alvaro Garcia Jr. and his nationality is mexican and he should go to prison for the rest of his life. HE STOLED MY IDENITY TO GIVE IT TO A ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT LIVING IN IOWA TO BE ABLE TO WORK THE U.S. TO GET FINANCIAL GAIN FROM HIM AND MANY OTHERS. HE WAS NEVER ARRESTED FOR THIS CRIME EVEN THE MAN WHO GOT CAUGHT TOLD THE COURTS HE SOLD THE IDENITY TO HIM. HOW DO YOU THINK THAT MAKES ME FEEL. MY OWN FATHER SOLD MY IDENITY. I HOPE HE ROTS IN JAIL.

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