Downtown Garment Plant Raided : Labor: State says unlicensed factory is linked to El Monte sweatshop. But no evidence of slave-like conditions is found.

Striking once again at the underside of Southern California’s garment industry, state labor authorities Wednesday raided a large bootleg factory near Downtown Los Angeles that officials say was another branch of the notorious El Monte sweatshop operation.

The unlicensed plant--situated in a cavernous cinder-block structure almost directly beneath a freeway ramp--featured more than 60 sewing machines, many of them computerized models more advanced than anything found in El Monte.

Investigators seized the machines and bundles of clothing in various stages of completion. The garments were believed to be destined for the same major retailers where the El Monte-produced goods ended up.

“This shows again that what we found in El Monte was part of a very large operation,” said California Labor Commissioner Victoria Bradshaw.

No one was at the site when California Department of Industrial Relations officers, having obtained a warrant, forced their way into the factory. But officials said that unlike the El Monte case, there was no indication that workers had been held against their will.

Authorities suspect that overseers shut down the factory after learning of the state-led raids on Aug. 2 at El Monte and two other related sites. Information seized in those operations led investigators Wednesday to 1432 Oak St., across the Harbor Freeway from the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Among the garments seized were scores of children’s T-shirts emblazoned with likenesses of Garfield, the feline comic strip character.

Despite its size and production capabilities, authorities said, the Los Angeles facility was unlicensed and unregistered with the state or city. Its discovery has once again underscored the proliferation of illegal manufacturers in the area’s booming apparel industry, the nation’s largest, which is heavily dependent on immigrant workers, mostly women.

Investigators have obtained lists of the former employees and plan to interview them to determine if any are owed back wages.

State and federal officials have filed lawsuits seeking more than $5 million in back pay owed to the 72 Thai workers employed at the El Monte site.

California authorities also plan court action seeking wages from the Los Angeles-area manufacturers that were conduits for sweatshop-produced garments. But laws largely shield from legal liability the big-pocket retail chains that were sold the goods.

It is as yet unknown if the Thai workers at the newly discovered Downtown site were smuggled into the United States.

Although officials say the El Monte site operated for seven years, records indicate that the Los Angeles plant only began business Nov. 1. In an affidavit, state authorities described the plant operator leasing the building as one of the nine Thai nationals indicted this month on federal immigration-related charges in connection with the El Monte case.