Vice President of Food and Commercial Workers, Local #1149, Found Guilty of Harboring Aliens
Des Moines, IA - On May 8, 2008, Braulio Pereyra, age 59, of Marshalltown, Iowa, was convicted by a Federal Court Jury today of Harboring Illegal Aliens (Count 1 of a 3 Count Indictment), announced United States Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker. Mr. Pereyra, the Vice President of The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local #1149, was also acquitted of the federal charges of False Representation of a Social Security Number (Count 2) and Aggravated Identify Theft (Count 3), during that same jury trial. The Harboring Illegal Aliens conviction carries a maximum of 5 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine and a term of supervised release. Pereya, with knowledge of the fact that one or more aliens, namely, employees of Swift and Company, had come to, entered, and remained in the United States in violation of law or with reckless disregard of the fact, did conceal, and shield from detection, and attempted to conceal and shield from detection such aliens in a building located at the Swift and Company plant at 402 North 10th Avenue, Marshalltown, Iowa.
This investigation was conducted by The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and their Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and The Department of Homeland Security - Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Iowa.