Batres brought workers to Minnesota and threatened to report them to immigration officials if they raised complaints about dangerous workign conditions or underpayment of wages. He threatened workers who had been injured that they would be deported if they sought medical attention. One of the workers suffered from spinal fractures after a prefab wall fell on him. Another worker was forced to endure threats and physical restraint. In 2017, he paid $6,000 to bond a man out of ICE custody and then coerced the man to work to pay back his debt; Batres would have received the money back when the man returned to court. Batres admitted to lying on his workers' compensation insurance policy by reporting he had no employees, which saved him $5,000 in premiums.
| First | Last | Age | Title | Employer | Injury Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Info unavailable\r\n | Info unavailable\r\n | Info unavailable\r\n | Info unavailable\r\n | American Contractors | Trafficking |
| Name | Type | Title | Plea Info. | Conviction Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ricardo Batres\r\n | Individual | Owner | Pleaded guilty to one count of labor trafficking and one count of insurance fraud. | As part of his plea deal, Batres agreed to five years of probation and nine months in the county workhouse. He will have to serve at least four months in the workhouse with no release before becoming eligible to serve the remaining time on work release or home monitoring. As a condition of the plea deal, he is barred from working on state or federally funded projects. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2020. |
| Crimes Charged: |
Penal Crimes: Labor Trafficking (one count); Insurance Fraud (one count); Theft by Swindle (one count) |
Other Crimes: None | ||