Weld County authorities have dropped identity-theft charges against six illegal immigrants swept up in a raid on a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in return for their cooperation in a federal investigation.
The six agreed to assist in a grand jury investigation being conducted by the U.S. attorney’s office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck.
Buck referred questions about the investigation to the U.S. attorney’s office, where a spokesman would not comment.
More than 250 people were arrested in the raid at Swift’s Greeley plant Dec. 12 in a federal crackdown on identity theft by foreign workers.
Simultaneous raids at Swift plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Utah led to 1,282 arrests overall.
The six are among 18 people arrested in the raids on warrants issued for identity-theft crimes against Weld County victims, said Jennifer Finch, community relations director for the Weld County district attorney’s office: Florencio Tzun-Lopez, Armando Tzun-Lopez, Augusto Lopez-Vicente, Carlos Guerra-Serrano, Karina Bartolo-Pecho and Efrain Sontay-Vicente.
Five workers pleaded guilty to forgery or identity theft and received sentences of between two and six years in state prison. Their sentences were suspended on the condition that they cooperate in deportation proceedings.
The rest pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and were sentenced to the 126 days they had already served. They were handed over to ICE for deportation, Finch said.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
