Three men face federal criminal charges based on allegations they provided false identification documents to potential hires at a potato farm.
An arrest warrant and search Tuesday on the Worley & McCullough potato farm where the three men worked also led to the arrest of 19 alleged illegal immigrants.
The six-count federal indictment filed in November was unsealed Wednesday after an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that lasted nearly a year.
“The message we want to send is, ‘We are out there looking,”‘ said Jeffry Copp, ICE special agent in charge of the Denver office. “And we may be looking at you.”
Company general manager Michael Abeyta, 40, company foreman Luis Trujillo, 42, both U.S. citizens, and employee Javier Fuentes- Sotelo, 32, are in custody on felony charges and will go before a judge today. Fuentes-Sotelo, a permanent legal resident, is also charged with transferring identification cards.
The investigation is ongoing, and owners of the potato farm are cooperating with ICE, Copp said.
Last summer ICE sent an agent to Monte Vista who posed as an illegal immigrant trying to get a job at the farm. The undercover agent allegedly paid Fuentes-Sotelo for stolen or forged documents that included a green card, a Social Security card and an Arizona driver’s license.
“This indictment demonstrates that those who seek to provide false identification documents will be held criminally accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Troy Eid.
Most of the 19 alleged illegal workers are being held at a Denver detention facility and are awaiting hearings before a judge. Two women were conditionally released because they are the sole caregivers to their children.
One of the workers may face criminal charges of identity theft, Copp said.
The victim of that theft is a college student in El Paso who has been wrongly arrested and jailed because of the theft, and he also has to report to the IRS every year to correct the reporting of wages that he did not earn.
Community members in Alamosa held meetings this week attracting more than 150 people and also held a candlelight vigil.
“These ICE raids have to stop. Children are being terrorized and families ripped apart by these humanitarian offenses,” said Flora Archuleta of the San Luis Valley Immigrant Resource Center. “We need real solutions that will serve our communities, economy and families.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
