WATERLOO --- Among the mountains of bogus immigration records and job applications with fake names and birthdays in the case against Sholom Rubashkin, the two documents prosecutors keep coming back to are yearbooks.
Workers Detail Work at Agriprocessors Plant
WATERLOO — Among the mountains of bogus immigration records and job applications with fake names and birthdays in the case against Sholom Rubashkin, the two documents prosecutors keep coming back to are yearbooks.
Testimony in the state’s child labor case against the former Agriprocessors’ executive continued this Tuesday with a parade of former workers taking the stand.
And each time, prosecutors for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office pulled out Postville High School yearbooks.
One is titled “2007: Cruisin Through” and the other is marked “2007-2008: Life isn’t always black and white.”
Prosecutors flipped through the tomes to find the thumb sized black-and-white photos of the witness sandwiched between other shots of smiling students.
On the stand, teenagers told the jury how they quit school to take jobs at the meatpacking plant.
“I owed money in Guatemala … the expense incurred to come over here,” Marcos Guerra Garcia, who left after reaching the ninth grade, testified through an interpreter.
The stories were similar. Sometimes they used fake names on their applications, sometimes they used their own. But always they submitted forged resident alien cards they purchased in town. Always they gave fake dates of birth, pretending to be older than they were.
Johel Rucal, now 17, said his sister dropped out first to help pay the debt his mother owed to smugglers who brought the family over the border. He said he quit in the eighth grade and paid $150 to get an ID that said he was 21. He was really 14.
He said his mom didn’t want him to work there, but it was his decision.
Rucal talked about his job weighing boxes, cutting up turkeys and mixing chemicals in a barrel.
In other testimony, Luther “Don” Peddy, a public service executive with Iowa OSHA, told jurors about dry ice, anhydrous ammonia and other chemicals used in Agriprocessors.
Dry ice is about 110 degrees below zero and can freeze flesh instantly, Peddy said. Anhydrous ammonia is used in the cooling system, although under cross-examination, he explained it says inside of pipes unless there is an accidental leak.
Testimony is expected to continue Wednesday with more former child workers taking the stand. The trial is scheduled to last three weeks.
You can follow the case live on CrownHeights.info’s Twitter feed, which brings you news stories as they break!
hmmmm
I guess the school didn’t even teach him english…better of that he left….
oh…and I use ammonia in my bathroom…is that child abuse?
Slow cooker
Sorry to say it but watching them pile up the child labor evidence on Sholom is like watching cholent as it slowly cooks knowing it will be surely devoured.
Confused
i dont get it so what did Reb SMR do wrong?? they are all saying that they forged documents etc. etc.??
SM fan
I followed today’s proceedings. These people are clearly lieing out of their teeth.
Be Objective
C.H. Info does great work in general but in this article Your reporting could be more objective and less judgemental.
Hold on...
They all admit it was THEIR idea to go buy false papers & IDs because they wanted to help their families.
How is that Rubashkin’s fault?!
Oh, and that supervisor who spoke to him in his office BY HIMSELF with no witnesses or records (how convenient) didn’t even bother to tell ANYONE until he was sitting on the witness stand!
One look
I believe one look the body language of the first picture says it all.
shomer 1
i can be quiet and must say that
if crown heights (moshe rubashkin-vaad hakohal) would do
just a litle bit more to protect the shomrim from the mesira.
all this would of not happend.
USA == COMMUNIST RUSSIA
I cant believe “FEDERAL PROSICUTERS”
1- Are hiring ILIIGAL ALIENS to TESTIFY in court
2- Testimony of WITNESSES who ADMIT that they presented false ID and admit that they are lyers!
This is worse than in RUSSIA where they would illigaly prosicute Chassidim for absolutly NOTHING
Witness bribery
It seems that these federal agents have given lots of bribe and incetives to the witnesses.
(Especialy that most of them risking themselves for a prison sentence and being deported).
eet ess
he looks prettry good for what he’s gone through so far. keep the strength mon.
mother in ch
The most interesting comment is left out… Where did they think they were working- this is no candy shop! I would like the defense to call an owner of a nonjewish slaughterhouse and see that he uses chemicals too. Yes- the chemicals may have been dangerous but that is part of the job. We use extremely dangerous chemicals in our homes but that is the only way to get the job done. There was no coersion. No one forced these kids to lie and I agree with the previous poster- since when are avowed liers believed- how can we believe them on the witness stand esp when we know that they are testifying under coersion- say the wrong thing and they are immediately deported- say the right thing and maybe they will get a visa and be able to save their families.