Former manager of El Cajon company pleads guilty to hiring unauthorized workers, gets no jail time
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- A former manager of an El Cajon powder coating and sandblasting company pleaded guilty to hiring undocumented workers.
- As part of a plea agreement, John Washburn won’t spend any time in jail.
A former manager of an El Cajon company pleaded guilty Wednesday to hiring undocumented workers, the culmination of a federal investigation that included an undercover agent and an armed raid at the powder coating and sandblasting company earlier this year.
John Washburn, the former general manager of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings, was sentenced to one year of unsupervised release but will do no jail time as part of a plea agreement, according to court records.
Washburn, who had been originally charged with a felony, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one misdemeanor count of hiring undocumented workers.
The sentencing comes after armed federal agents raided the El Cajon business in March, a decision that Washburn’s attorney said had no purpose other than to “terrorize the community.”
“This was not to enforce some immigration laws,” said Patrick Griffin, Washburn’s attorney. “It was to do so in a manner to send a chilling effect to the community.”
Griffin criticized the decision by federal authorities to pursue charges against Washburn, and said the federal authorities used an unnecessary amount of resources to investigate the case, and then raid the El Cajon business.
“It’s a monumental waste of resources for this,” he said.
As part of the plea agreement, Washburn admitted that he had communicated with other managers at the company about employees who had “bad paperwork,” meaning they did not have valid documents proving they were allowed to work in the U.S., according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
According to the initial complaint filed against Washburn, the investigation included an undocumented worker who cooperated with federal agents who recorded audio and video inside the company, and an undercover agent who posed as a worker lacking proper documentation.
Hardware store chain Home Depot has become the site of several immigration raids across the L.A. area., with officials targeting day laborers in the latest crackdown.
According to the complaint, the immigrant worker who was cooperating with federal agents was two or three weeks away from obtaining legal immigration status, but had been working at the company under a fake name.
In one recording captured by the worker, Washburn indicated he was aware that several workers did not have the documentation to work in the U.S.
When one worker asked about bringing in a friend looking for work, Washburn reportedly said, “As long as you can show me something, I don’t care,” according to the complaint.
But Griffin said federal authorities seemed to target Washburn simply because he was the employee who spoke to the worker who cooperated with officials.
“[Washburn] is just a paid employee,” Griffin said. “They’re prosecuting a manager, someone who is just punching a clock for doing what he’s told and doing his job.”
Court documents indicate that the company, San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings, often worked with military agencies as a subcontractor, including at the time of the raid in March.
Jeremy Warren, an attorney representing San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings, said the company completed a review of its hiring practices after the March raid.
“This incident sparked SDPPC to review its policies and adopt best practices in hiring and training employees,” Warren said. “All current employees are authorized workers.”
Warren said before the raid, all employees for the company were receiving the same benefits, accrued personal time off, and had taxes withheld.
According to the complaint, three workers believed to be undocumented were also living at the company building, where a conference room had been converted into living quarters with cots, a television, small refrigerator, microwave and rack of clothes.
Workers interviewed by federal agents said they had been allowed to stay in the conference room and were not being charged rent.
The March operation in El Cajon came several weeks before a visible escalation of operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement across Southern California. The ICE raids and detentions of the past few weeks seemingly focused on detaining and deporting unauthorized immigrants and have apparently not targeted employers such as Washburn.
Masked ICE agents have been reported across the region, executing raids at car washes, Home Depot parking lots, near schools, in busy immigrant communities and most recently near Dodger Stadium. The raids sparked days of protests and arrests across Southern California.
Immigration raids in Los Angeles have affected rank and file employees, not the business owners who hired them. Here’s what experts say about who ICE targets and why.
Last week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said immigration agents had taken 330 immigrants into custody in Los Angeles and surrounding areas since the operations began in June.
According to the complaint filed against Washburn, about 50 people were working at the company at the time, and about 15 of them appeared to lack legal authority to work in the U.S.
ICE officials did not immediately respond to questions about the status of the unauthorized workers who were identified in the March operation.
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