Ranchers sympathetic after Rancho indictment

Four were indicted last week on charges of conspiracy, fraud and violations of the Federal Meat Inspection Act.|

Petaluma ranchers reacted with sympathy to the news that four people were indicted on Aug. 14 for crimes that ultimately led to an 8.7 million pound beef recall and the closure of Rancho Feeding Corp. Charges against the former slaughterhouse proprietors and two employees range from conspiracy to mail fraud for processing cows they knew to be diseased and defrauding ranchers who used their services.

“If these charges are proven as true, it’s unfortunate,” Jessica McIsaac of McIsaac Dairy. “But at the end of the day, farmers need to stick together and not let the industry get divided.”

Former slaughterhouse owner Jesse “Babe” Amaral, 76, faces 11 charges, mostly related to violations of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and mail fraud for sending phony invoices to customers. He pleaded not guilty during his initial court appearance on Monday, paid a $50,000 bond and was released. His business partner, Robert Singleton, 77, is cooperating with prosecutors and faces only one charge for selling “adulterated, misbranded or uninspected” meat. Singleton will first appear before a judge on Friday.

Also charged were Felix Sandoval Cabrera, 55, the slaughterhouse’s foreman who was responsible for operations on the kill floor; and Eugene D. Corda, 65, who received the cattle and moved them through the inspection process.

But despite the charges, many in Petaluma’s ranching community have voiced their support for the former owners and employees.

“I hope it can be proven that this is not true. The people named in this are good people,” said McIsaac.

Sally Gale of Chileno Valley Ranch echoed those sentiments, saying, “We never had any trouble with the former owners, we felt they performed honorably.”

Between mid-2012 and Jan. 10 of this year, the slaughterhouse is alleged to have processed almost 200 cows they knew to be sick or condemned using schemes to avoid the traditional inspection process, which requires that cows be examined before and after their death by a certified USDA inspector. The indictment states that Amaral instructed Cabrera to process cows that had been “condemned” by a USDA veterinarian by slicing the inspection stamps out of the animals’ carcass so it could be sold for meat.

According to the indictment, Singleton also purchased cattle at livestock auctions and from private sellers at a discount because the animals showed signs of “cancer eye,” a disease that would render them unfit for human consumption. Amaral and Singleton then allegedly instructed Corda to switch the diseased cows for healthy animals that had already passed the live inspection. Once the sickly cows had been killed, Cabrera threw away the diseased cow heads and then put the head of a healthy cow next to the carcass, so the cows appeared healthy during the post mortem inspection. The scams were orchestrated while the USDA inspector was not on site.

The company distributed meat from 101 condemned cattle and another 79 with “cancer eye,” according to the indictment. Cabrera was allegedly paid $50 for each unsound animal he processed on the kill floor, a payment that was approved by Amaral and Singleton. There were no illnesses reported from any of the meat that was recalled by the slaughterhouse, according to USDA.

Amaral is also charged with defrauding his customers by claiming that cows had died or been condemned, when in fact they were sold for meat. The slaughterhouse charged ranchers a “handling fee” for processing the animals, even though the business allegedly profited from the animals.

When asked if she was concerned that her business had been defrauded, McIsaac said, “Hypothetically, if we were one of those people who that happened to, we would consider it water under the bridge.”

Each count carries its own potential sentence, which range from 3 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for distributing “adulterated meat,” to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for mail fraud.

Neither Singleton nor Amaral returned phone calls seeking comment on this story.

(Emily Charrier can be reached at Emily.charrier@arguscourier.com)

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