AUTHORITIES ADD COLUMBIA FARMS TO INDICTMENT IN IMMIGRANT STING

When the House of Raeford’s Columbia Farms plant in Greenville was busted last year for allegedly hiring 300 illegal immigrants, the company essentially threw its plant managers under the bus and denied any knowledge of their activities.

But authorities are now saying their story isn’t exactly true.

U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins last week said Columbia Farms in fact knew its managers were hiring illegal immigrants.

The company has been added to an indictment handed down by a federal grand jury on 29 charges of illegally hiring workers at the Greenville plant.

Plant manager Barry Cronic and personnel manager Elaine Crump had been previously named in the indictment, and federal prosecutors said it was through them that Columbia Farms hired the illegal workers.

The company, however, disagreed.

“For nearly a year Columbia Farms Inc. has cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the Federal government in every step of their investigation,” spokesman Dave Witter said in a statement. “Columbia Farms contends that it has followed all state and federal employment laws and looks forward to vindicating the Company’s position in a court of law.”

North Carolina-based House of Raeford, which owns the plant, has not been charged in the case.