SALEM, Ohio -- Fresh Mark, the meat packaging company federal immigration agents raided Tuesday and arrested 146 people, has a history of accusations that it hired undocumented immigrants for years to work at the facility
One of them died there in December.
An ex-employee said in a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the Canton-based company in 2001 that the company knowingly hired undocumented immigrants and that employees often forged documents on behalf of workers.
The claims by the ex-human resources employee mirror the accusations ICE officials said in a statement regarding the most recent arrests at the plant. ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls said in a statement that the yearlong investigation revolved around undocumented workers at the plant using forged Social Security cards.
The company also had two Guatemalans die working at one of their plants since 2011, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A man who died at Fresh Mark's Canton plant was an undocumented immigrant who was supposed to be deported, according to Stark County Coroner records.
A political action committee, the Ohio Jobs and Justice PAC, picketed the company in 2011 and accused Fresh Mark of hiring undocumented immigrants.
Fresh Mark spokeswoman Brittany Julian did not respond to multiple requests for comment, other than sending a statement acknowledging ICE agents were at their facility on Tuesday and that they were enrolled in a voluntary program with ICE aimed at ensuring companies hire lawful employees.
Lawsuit accuses Fresh Mark of forging documents
The 2001 lawsuit, filed by ex-employee Cindy Grove, accused Fresh Mark of conspiring to hire undocumented immigrants to work at their meat packing plants in the Canton area.
Grove's lawsuit said the company made fake Social Security cards and Ohio identification cards. The company would find places for the workers to live and give them transportation to and from the plants, the lawsuit said.
Human resources employees would falsify employee verification documents. Grove said she notified a supervisor, who did nothing. She also reported the company to Immigration and Naturalization Services. She was fired shortly after, the lawsuit says.
Grove filed the lawsuit claiming whistleblower laws should have protected her from being fired. A Columbiana County judge ultimately sided with the company had the right to fire her.
The company denied any wrongdoing.
Deaths at the plants
An undocumented immigrant working at the plant died in December after getting his foot caught it a meat-grinding auger, according to OSHA and the Stark County Coroner.
Domingo Ramos, 49, was working at Fresh Mark's Canton plant on Dec. 16 when his foot got caught in the rotating auger. The auger ripped off the bottom part of his right leg, dragging it some 15 feet, the coroner's report said.
He bled to death while employees and medics tried to pull him from the machine. His death was ruled an accident.
When Ramos was brought to the coroner's office, however, Fresh Mark gave investigators documents that said Ramos' name was Samuel Martinez, the coroner's report said. Ramos' family gave his real name to the coroner's office while trying to ensure his body was sent back to Guatemala for burial.
The coroner sent his fingerprints to ICE, who identified him as Ramos through immigration arrest records, the report says. The report said ICE told the investigators he was supposed to have been deported and that he was last known to live in New Orleans.
Another Guatemalan native died at the same plant in 2011. Marcos Perez-Velasquez, 20, died Sept. 8, 2011.
He was working at the plant as a sanitation crew member. He hosed down part of the part of the plant and brought a fan in to dry the water, according to OSHA records. He wasn't wearing gloves or any protective gear and was electrocuted to death while plugging the fan in, according to OSHA.
Other OSHA complaints
Along with the open OSHA investigation into Ramos' death, OSHA has two other safety violation cases against the company. An OSHA spokesman did not return several requests for information on those cases. They've had 12 cases with OSHA since 2009.
The company was cited for a May 9, 2017 incident at the Massillon plant where an employee's left index finger was amputated as he cleaned a bacon vacuum machine and went to remove a piece of meat hanging from the conveyor belt, according to OSHA. The employee inadvertently removed a safety guard, turned on the machine and had his finger ripped off.
They paid $27,200 in fines in 2016 and 2015 after workers suffered amputations while working at Fresh Mark plants, according to OSHA.
In another case in 2009, an employee had two fingers amputated after he reached into a pepperoni wrapping machine to clear a jam and had two fingers crushed, according to OSHA.
Cops couldn't figure out one employees identity in 2003
Perry Township police in 1999 stopped a man who worked at the plant for walking over train tracks while the gate was down. That set off an investigation into the man's true identity because he had three different identification cards in his wallet with three different names, according to published reports at the time.
The man eventually told police his name was Gregorio Calel, that he worked for Fresh Mark and that he had walked to Alliance from Guatemala in a months time, according to the newspaper accounts. He told police at the time he was an undocumented immigrant.
He eventually pleaded no contest to the charge of obstructing justice.
What is the company?
Fresh Mark was founded in 1920 and packages meat under the brand names Sugardale and Superior's.
It is a meat supplier with facilities in Canton, Massillon and Salem. The company supplies bacon, ham and hot dog meat to businesses and sports stadiums throughout Ohio, according to the company's website. One of the company's more popular products is the Sugardale Hot Dog, the hot dog often associated with the popular $1 hot dog days at the Cleveland Indians' Progressive Field.
They were the first Ohio company to voluntarily join the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, a program that gives ICE increased access to companies and provides training to the companies regarding counterfeit documents, identity theft schemes involving undocumented workers and other regulatory issues, according to ICE.
The program enrollment also ensures that ICE will not conduct a review of the company in the two years after they sign up and promised a reduce risk of lawsuits regarding undocumented workers. ICE will also waive some fines or reduce others relating to undocumented workers if companies sign up with the program.
Who is Fresh Mark's CEO?
Neil Genshaft serves as CEO of Fresh Mark, according to public records. He has a history of donating to local and national Republican candidates, but did not donate to President Donald Trump's campaign or any political action committees associated with it, according to state and federal campaign records.
Genshaft, however, donated some $9,500 between 2012 and 2017 to campaigns for Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel who ran for U.S. Senate and became a staunch backer of Trump's anti-immigration policy, including the proposal to build a wall along the U.S. border to Mexico. Mandel eventually dropped out of the race in January.
Multiple attempts to reach Genshaft were unsuccessful.