The director general of an EL Cajon company not formed in a company was charged on Friday for suspicion of having hosted undocumented immigrants who worked there following a three -year federal investigation into the company’s hiring practices, officials said.
John Washburn and three other employees were arrested following a RAID on the company on Thursday in BJS & T Enterprises, who is dealing under the name of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings and is located on Magnolia Avenue near Drive Airport.
The family business ends metal coatings and has several federal government contracts, including work for projects on military and government vehicles.
Washburn was accused of conspiracy for foreigners after investigators said they had found a room in the warehouse who said they had authorized undocumented immigrants to live illegally. The other three employees have been accused of using false documents to work in the United States, federal investigators said.
US magistrate Barbara Major set Washburn’s surety at $ 5,000, investigators said.
The judicial archives did not indicate if Washburn had a lawyer to speak on his behalf on Friday.
The criminal complaint filed on Friday reveals new details on the RAID, which included armed agents of the application of laws in vests to the test of bullets to give individuals and to align them in the industrial zone.
According to federal prosecutors, the company has made a living space for at least three undocumented workers in a warehouse which housed at least two military projects and equipment.
The bedroom, according to the criminal complaint, had a bed, a bed, a stamp on the floor with blankets, a TV, a refrigerator, a microwave and clothing supports. On a whiteboard in the room was a list of words written in English and Spanish.
One of the men living inside the play, listed as a material witness in the case, told investigators that Washburn had given him permission to live inside the room, said the complaint. Other material witnesses said Washburn or other members of the company management knew that some of their workers had no documents to work legally in the United States and that they used false names, identifying documents and social security numbers, according to the complaint.
Investigators said government entrepreneurs should electronically check their employees’ identification documents, but agents think that the company has not done so.
The complaint indicates that the investigators believe that out of the 50 people present for reasons of the company Thursday, fifteen would have worked without legal authorization.
Thursday’s raid stems from a multi -year investigation which started with federal agents who examine any drug traffickers in San Diego. At least one of the suspects crossed the American-Mexican border with a visa but without work authorization, and his vehicle was spotted by agents stationed before the company’s building in 2022, according to a affidavit of the search mandate below the federal court of San Diego on Thursday.
A hidden video camera carried by a cooperative source – who was an undocumented immigrant working in the company – secretly recorded a conversation with Washburn. During the conversation, the director general would have suggested that he knew that the name of the source and the documents were false and that a large part of his workers were undocumented, according to the Affidavit.
On March 19, an agent infiltrated with Homeland Security Investigations, an agency under American immigrants and customs, was hired in the company despite the use of false identification documents, according to Affidavit. While working there, the agent was informed by other employees of the residential areas upstairs.
The mandate carried out Thursday has enabled special agents to enter the company’s facilities and enter staff files, internal communications, payroll files, gap schedules, appointments and information on business contracts.
It was not immediately clear how many people had been detained in the establishment.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
