Wichita company and its officers plead guilty to knowingly hiring illegal aliens

WICHITA, KS - A Wichita company, its owner, and a manager pleaded guilty yesterday to knowingly hiring illegal aliens and agreed to pay a total of $210,000 in fines.

Bob Eisel Powder Coatings Inc., owner and president Bob Eisel, and general manager Kenric "Butch" Steinert, all of Wichita, pleaded guilty during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Wesley E. Brown. The remaining co-defendant in the case, company foreman Troy Hook, of Clearwater, was arraigned yesterday and pleaded not guilty.

The defendants each pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement on an I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form that fraudulently certified employee Francisco Javier Avila- Garcia had provided genuine documents qualifying him to be employed.

A 28-count indictment filed earlier this month charged that since 1997 the company routinely employed undocumented foreign nationals, primarily from Mexico, knowing they were providing false identification documents to be employed. The indictment resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Social Security Administration.