Rusk County man pleads guilty to false statements to federal agencies regarding non-citizen workers

MADISON, Wis. (WEAU) - A Bruce, Wis. man has pleaded guilty to making false material statements to the U.S. Department of Labor and to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, concerning workers from other countries hired to perform labor in the United States.

According to a media release from the Department of Justice, United States Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea Western District of Wisconsin, 52-year-old Alfredo Aguilar pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Madison, Wis. The guilty plea is announced by Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wis. According to the plea agreement, from 2015 until Dec. 2018 Aguilar was a co-owner of Northwoods Forestry, Inc., a business based in Eleva, Wis. Aguilar recruited workers from Mexico and Central America, known as H-2B workers, to work in forestry by planting and caring for trees and clearing and developing woodland. Through the H-2B program, employers are permitted to hire temporary workers from other countries to perform labor to address one-time, seasonal, intermittent, or peak needs. Northwoods Forestry agents made statements and attestations under oath to the Department of Labor and USCIS regarding the type of work the workers would do and the wages they would receive.

Information in the media release from the Department of Justice, United States Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea Western District of Wisconsin, says Aguilar admitted that he placed Northwoods Forestry H-2B workers with non-forestry employers, including in meat packing, construction, roofing, agriculture, painting, fur processing, and landscaping businesses, and that he assured those employers that the H-2B employees could legally work at their businesses when he knew that was not true. Information in the media release from the Department of Justice, United States Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea Western District of Wisconsin, also says Aguilar admitted that Northwoods Forestry did not pay the workers the highest applicable wages, did not pay the workers overtime, deducted the cost of safety boots from the wages of employees sent to work in meat packing, and deducted expenses and subsistence for transportation to and from the United States from the H-2B employees’ pay, all contrary to their sworn statements to the Department of Labor.

According to the media release from the Department of Justice, United States Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea Western District of Wisconsin, as part of Aguilar’s plea agreement, Aguilar will pay restitution to the H-2B workers in the amount of $1,144,693.56 and a civil penalty in the amount of $210,696.39.

A sentencing is scheduled for April 19, 2023.

The full media release from the Department of Justice, United States Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea Western District of Wisconsin, is available HERE.