Petaluma Slaughterhouse Employee Sentenced For Scheme To Distribute Adulterated Meat

SAN FRANCISCO – Felix Sandoval Cabrera, the kill floor foreperson at the now-defunct Rancho Feeding Corporation in Petaluma, was sentenced today for his role in a scheme to distribute adulterated, misbranded, and uninspected meat, announced Acting United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Special Agent in Charge of the Western Region of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office of Inspector General, Investigations, Lori Chan. 

Cabrera, 56, of Santa Rosa, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer to three months’ imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release, conditions of which include three months of home confinement, and a $1,000 fine. 

Cabrera was charged along with Rancho Feeding’s owner Jesse Amaral, 78, of Petaluma and Eugene Corda, 66, of Petaluma, with distribution of adulterated, misbranded, and uninspected meat, in violation of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA), 21 U.S.C. §§ 610(c) & 676(a), conspiracy to commit the same, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349. For his part in the scheme, a fourth defendant, Robert Singleton, 79, owner of Petaluma-based Rancho Veal Corporation, was charged in a separate information on August 18, 2014, with one count of distributing adulterated, misbranded, and uninspected meat in violation of the FMIA.

On November 26, 2014, Cabrera pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat. As part of his plea agreement, Cabrera admitted he directed other kill floor employees to carve “USDA Condemned” stamps out of carcasses of condemned cattle and to process the carcasses for transport, sale, and distribution.  Cabrera further acknowledged placing heads from apparently healthy cows next to the carcasses of cows showing signs of “cancer eye” in an effort to circumvent government meat inspection procedures, and then processing the uninspected cattle for transport, sale, and distribution.

Amaral, Corda, and Singleton have each pleaded guilty and acknowledged their separate roles in the scheme.  Each has been sentenced by Judge Breyer.  Amaral pleaded guilty to FMIA conspiracy on February 18, 2015.  Judge Breyer sentenced him to 12 months and one day of imprisonment for leading the conspiracy.  Corda, Rancho’s yardman, pleaded guilty to one of the underlying distribution counts, admitting that he knowingly switched uninspected cancer eye cattle with inspected, healthy cattle as part of a scheme to circumvent USDA inspection procedures.  Judge Breyer sentenced Corda to three years’ probation, including six months of home detention.  Singleton pleaded guilty to the information, admitting that he participated in a scheme by which Rancho employees were instructed to carve “USDA Condemned” stamps out of cattle carcasses, to conceal from USDA inspection cows showing signs of cancer eye by switching the diseased heads with healthy heads, and to process the adulterated and uninspected carcasses for human consumption.  Judge Breyer sentenced Singleton to three months’ imprisonment, to be followed by one year of supervised release, conditions of which include three months of home confinement and fifty hours of community service.

Cabrera’s sentence was a result of the United States’ motion for downward departure based on his cooperation, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1.  Judge Breyer set a self-surrender deadline of September 2, 2016. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hartley M.K. West prosecuted this case with the assistance of Rosario Calderon and Bridget Kilkenny.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by agents of the USDA’s Office of Inspector General, Investigations and USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service, Office of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit, Compliance and Investigations.