Former Agriprocessors manager who fought extradition pleads not guilty to 27 charges

Former Agriprocessors manager Hosam Amara pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court to 27 charges involving illegal immigration, after fighting extradition from Israel for two years.

Amara, 48,was first indicted Nov. 20, 2008, and additional charges followed in 2009 stemming from the 2008 Agriprocessors immigration raid but he hasn't been prosecuted because he fled the country after being charged. He was then arrested by Israeli authorities March 31, 2011, and after appealing extradition to the Israeli Supreme Court he was extradited back to Iowa after the appeal was denied in March.

Amara, appearing in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, pleaded not guilty Friday to one count  of conspiracy to harbor undocumented workers for profit, 24 counts of harboring and aiding and abetting the harboring of undocumented workers for profit, one count of conspiracy to commit document fraud and one count of aiding and abetting document fraud.

U.S. Magistrate Jon Scoles appointed Steven Drahozal, a Dubuque attorney, as counsel to Amara.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Peter Deegan asked the court to detain Amara pending trial based on the fact that he had been a fugitive since being indicted in 2008. Deegan also asked the court to allow the U.S. Marshal's Office to transfer two passports Amara had in his possession to the probation office.

Scoles said the passports would go to the probation office.

Drahozal said Amara wouldn't ask for a detention hearing at this time.

If convicted, Amara faces up to 265 years in prison. The harboring undocumented workers and document fraud charge each carry up to 10 years in prison and the conspiracy to commit document fraud carries up to five years in prison.

The criminal cases of Amara and another former Agriprocessors manager, Zeev Levi, who also fled to Israel after being charged, are the last two to be resolved in connection with the raid. Levi remains a fugitive.

A jury in November 2009 convicted former Agriprocessors vice president Sholom Rubashkin, 52, of 86 counts of bank, mail and wire fraud, money laundering and failure to pay livestock providers in a timely manner.

There also were several supervisors and managers charged and convicted, and 389 workers were convicted and many deported in connection with the raid.