SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Dakota Beef Company was recently sentenced to five years probation and assessed a $45,000 fine by a federal court in Sioux Falls after pleading guilty to federal charges it knowingly hired 15 illegal workers in 2007 and 2008 at its organic meatpacking plant in Howard, S.D., according to The Associated Press.

Seven of the workers are being prosecuted on identity theft-type charges and the other eight people are at large or being processed for immigration violations, said U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley.

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