Fresh Mark Incorporated, a Northeast Ohio-based company that supplies meat products to all 50 states and more than 20 countries, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The company paid a nearly $4 million penalty for a hiring manager’s involvement in an identity theft scheme and subsequent obstruction of justice.
Between 2013 and 2018, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arrested multiple Fresh Mark employees illegally in the United States who used stolen identities to gain employment with the company.
According to court documents, Yelwin Omar Munoz-Solis, 43, of Salem, Ohio, was a hiring manager at Fresh Mark’s Salem facility. He conspired with others to steal the identities of U.S. citizens and give them to job applicants at Fresh Mark’s meat processing plants. He then certified I-9 documents, which are used to verify identity and employment eligibility in the United States.
I’m sure he is not the only company doing this.
Here’s an example of why we need e-verify mandated for all employers…