Identity theft is for the birds ... chickens to be precise

Poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride has reached a non-prosecution settlement agreement with the U.S. Attorney Office for the Eastern District of Texas and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding charges of identity theft and employment of illegal aliens at five of Pilgrim's Pride's plants.

The settlement agreement requires Pilgrim's Pride to pay $4.5 million to the government over the next three years.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids of the five plants in 2007 and 2008, apprehending 338 unauthorized workers. 

Pilgrim's Pride has indicated that it will seek to enhance its voluntary compliance programs to identify unauthorized persons who seek or obtain employment with the company.

Colorado Supreme Court ruled that evidence of identity theft found during search of tax records office was illegal

In a 4 to 3 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that a prosecutor's search of 5,000 tax files while looking for evidence of identity theft by illegal immigrants was an invasion of privacy.  In so doing, the Colorado Supreme Court upheld a lower court's ruling.

Last year, a Weld County, Colorado district attorney served a search warrant on Amalia's Translation and Tax Service in Greeley, Colorado, which is located about 60 miles from Denver.  What prosecutors were after were any instances where illegal immigrants had used someone else's Social Security numbers on their tax returns.

Advocates of both privacy and immigrants called the search intrusive and, eventually, a lower court agreed.  But not before approximately 30 illegal immigrants had plead guilty to identity theft and turned over to authorities to be deported. 

"A taxpayer has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her tax returns and return information, even when that information is in the custody of a tax preparer," Justice Michael L. Bender wrote in the court's opinion.

Identity theft by suspected illegal immigrant

An Illinois man suspected of living in the United States illegally is also charged with identity theft.  Vincente Zaragoza is accused of using the Social Security number of another person to obtain employment at an Illinois business and also used the stolen identity to collect unemployment. 

Thanks to the stolen Social Security number, Zarazoga collected over $119,000 in four years of working.  The person whose SSN Zarazoga was using was denied public aid because it showed she was working when it was actually Zarazoga working. 

Zaratoga faces up to 15 years in prison, a $25,000 fine and possible deportation.