Raid on east Valley candle company leads to 65 arrests

Authorities arrested 65 people -- most suspected of being in the country illegally -- in a raid on an east Valley candle company.

No employer sanction allegations were filed in connection with Wednesday's raid on Gold Canyon Candle Co. in Chandler, but Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the investigation will continue into whether the business knowingly hired illegal workers.

Twenty-three people were booked on identity theft allegations. Another 37 were taken into custody simply for being in the country illegally. Five U.S. citizens were arrested on outstanding criminal warrants.

The company said it conducts background checks on all hires and that it cooperated with investigators.

``Gold Canyon is in compliance with state and federal requirements for hiring co-workers and proactively verifies the work status of every co-worker prior to hiring,'' CEO Curt Waisath said in a statement.

Arpaio said a woman who has worked at the plant for seven years was using the Social Security number of a man who works in the White House. The sheriff declined to name the White House employee, citing security reasons.

No business operators have been formally accused of civil employer sanction violations in the eight months since Arizona has prohibited employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Wednesday that proving employer sanctions violations takes time.

``I'm sure it must be frustrating for people in the media and the public who are interested in knowing what the status is," Thomas said. ``I can't go into the details because they literally are ongoing investigations. Simply because the sheriff's office did a raid in conjunction with our office, that doesn't mean the investigations are over."

Thomas added, ``This is now the third major raid the sheriff's office has done in conjunction with the employer sanctions law. I can just attest to the public that we are making progress and that these earlier cases that were developed by the sheriff's office are yielding good fruit."

Gold Canyon Candle Co. claimed some of those arrested or detained were denied an opportunity to talk with attorneys.

In an exclusive interview with KTAR, company attorney Ezra Clark said deputies did not let suspects speak with a lawyer - even when they asked for one. "Also, I asked to see a copy of the warrant and the deputies denied that. They said they did not have to give me a copy for that."

Clark said the deputies did show the warrant to a company employee. He said the business fully complied with e-Verify and the employer sanctions law.

A woman named Jesse said her stepson works at the candle company and was stopped as he arrived at work.

``He only had his Arizona ID card, but they were asking for papers," she said. ``That's why we came over here because we got concerned because of the cars that were going in there."

She said she tried to take her stepson's green card to him, but she was stopped by an officer and told to give up the card. She refused.

"I told him no. My son has an Arizona ID, that's enough I think and I just told him get the information from here...He wanted the card and I told him no."

``Look at this," Jesse said angrily. ``He (the sheriff) has a SWAT team here. He has all this area surrounded like these were criminals. No, I think he's the criminal."

Rebecca Clyde, a spokesperson for Gold Canyon, said the case was not an employer sanctions case.

``As far as Gold Canyon, there was a warrant that was presented on entering the building that was related to identity theft charges," Clyde said.

She said Gold Canyon has fully cooperated with the employer sanctions law, which requires employers to check prospective workers through the database, e-verify, to make sure they are eligible to work in the United States.

``From Gold Canyon's standpoint, it has participated in e-verify from the very beginning, even before it was required by law," said Clyde.