Atalissa probe widens
April 13th, 2009From the Des Moines Register:
Federal, state and county investigators are advancing their probe into Henry’s Turkey Service, the company that is suspected of exploiting and neglecting workers with intellectual disabilities in Atalissa, Iowa.
No criminal charges have been filed and company officials are denying doing anything wrong. Among the agencies participating in the investigation are the FBI, Social Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and county prosecutors.
Twenty-one men were evacuated from a company-run bunkhouse in Atalissa in February when a state fire marshall declared it unsafe. The men had been employed for decades for as little as 44 cents per hour.
State records obtained by the Register show that some of the workers had serious medical issues in the months before the bunkhouse was closed, including one who required urgent medical care after not having his toenails cut for two years. Another man had a broken kneecap that had been left untreated.

