By admin 
For years a major Abbeville County industry called Burnstein Von Seelen Precision Casting was known for turning out quality metal parts made out of copper, brass and nickel.
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But two managers at the plant allegedly produced something else: hey “facilitated” the use of phony identification cards for company workers, state Attorney General Alan Wilson and other state, local and federal ICE law enforcement agents announced at a Thursday morning press conference in Columbia.
The managers and four others involved in the illegal document scheme have been indicted, officials said.
And 48 workers on Burnstein’s first shift have been detained by ICE for immigration violations. The detained workers came from Mexico and Guatemala, officials said.
The workers were taken into custody for a raid on the plant Wednesday morning pursuant to a search warrant.
Officials at Burnstein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation, which is still ongoing, began two years ago and was given the code name “Ghost Story.”
In announcing six indictments in an investigation and the detention of 48 workers on immigration violations, Wilson said evidence in the case alleges that two managers at Burnstein, Christopher Ramey and Sandy Lynn Willis, violated their legal obligations to verify the legitimacy of identification papers before hiring workers, thus facilitating the use of forged identity documents by immigrants at the company.
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“They were knowingly hiring illegal aliens,” Wilson said.
Other major defendants in the case are alleged sellers of forged state drivers’ licenses, Social Security cards or other sham identification, documents which allowed undocumented immigrants to stay in this country illegally, Wilson said.
The fake identity cards included the use of the dates of birth and Social Security number of actual U.S. citizens, officials said.
The case will be overseen by the state grand jury, which operates out of the attorney general’s office and is led by Creighton Waters, head of the state grand jury criminal section.
Speaking at the press conference, Waters stressed that the forgery operation is major focus of the investigation.
“This investigation is not about targeting hard-working people who are just trying to put food on the table,” Waters said. “We cannot ignore identity theft. We cannot ignore blatant violations of the law …. We can’t have readily-available false identifications, stealing the identity of real Americans.”
Besides ICE and the state grand jury, other participants in the investigation are the State Law Enforcement Division and the 8th Circuit Solicitor’s office headed by Solicitor David Stumbo.
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This is a breaking news story and will be updated.