Former QSI supervisor, employee get prison terms
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">A former supervisor and an ex-employee of the Quality Service Integrity Inc. operation in Beardstown were sentenced Monday to 38 months and 10 months in prison, respectively, for hiring illegal aliens, according to the U.S. attorney's office.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Gerardo Dominguez-Chacon, 35, and Maria Del Pilar Marroquin, 41, both had pleaded guilty to hiring undocumented Mexicans to work for QSI, a contract cleaning company employed by the Cargill Meat Solutions plant.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Cargill itself was accused of no wrongdoing.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Dominguez-Chacon was Marroquin's immediate supervisor. They and 16 others were charged as a result of a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raid at QSI's offices within Cargill on April 4. Assistant U.S. attorney Gregory Gilmore prosecuted the cases.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"Today's sentences mark the culmination of a successful worksite enforcement operation in which 18 defendants were charged, convicted and sentenced. It is appropriate that Dominguez-Chacon receive the greatest sentence, more than three years in prison, for his leadership role in hiring illegal aliens to work for the cleaning service," Springfield-based U.S. Attorney Rodger Heaton said in a news release. </font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Dominguez-Chacon pleaded guilty in July to one count of harboring illegal aliens and three counts of aiding aggravated identity theft. He admitted he had hired aliens without proper work authorization from December 2006 through April 3. </font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">He told QSI employees to obtain new identities and then hired them under the assumed identities, the release said.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Marroquin pleaded guilty in July to one count of harboring illegal aliens. She told investigators she knew employees she assisted had been instructed to get new identities when QSI headquarters noted the employees' Social Security numbers didn't match the employees' names. </font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">She also acknowledged she completed employment documents that she knew contained false information, including statements that QSI employees were lawful residents or U.S. citizens, according to prosecutors.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The 16 other defendants each pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud and misuse of employment documents. They were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to seven months. </font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">All could face deportation proceedings after completing their sentences.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Amanda Reavy can be reached at (217) 788-1525 or amanda.reavy@sj-r.com.</font>