Department of Homeland Security searches Fuyao and 27 other locations to investigate financial and labor crimes

“Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations, in cooperation with IRS Criminal Investigation and other law enforcement agencies, are executing federal search warrants at Fuyao Glass America and 27 other locations in the Dayton area as part of an ongoing criminal investigation,” Homeland Security officials said.

Jared Murphey, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit, said the investigation focused on money laundering, possible human smuggling, labor exploitation and financial crimes.

“As we speak, law enforcement is working diligently to identify victims, provide them with assistance and collect evidence relevant to the investigation,” he said Friday afternoon.

Special agents from HSI, IRS Criminal Investigations, the FBI and hundreds of state, regional and local law enforcement officials executed the search warrants.

The goal is to gather facts so investigators can present the case in federal court, Murphey said.

“When bad actors engage in unfair labor practices, they generally put profits before people and gain an unfair competitive advantage by exploiting workers and violating U.S. laws,” he added. “When those laws are broken, honest working people suffer, our communities suffer, and our neighbors suffer.”

Murphey urged anyone with relevant information related to the investigation to call 1-877-4-HSI-TIP.

Karen Wingere, special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigations in Cincinnati, said the IRS’s investigative division is responsible for investigating financial crimes, including tax code violations – such as payroll taxes and other financial crimes – drug trafficking and money laundering.

A recording from the Fuyao plant posted on Facebook shows a Department of Homeland Security agent telling Fuyao workers that the company is not currently under investigation and that there are no plans to arrest anyone at the plant on Friday.

“We just need to talk to everyone to find out what they saw, what happened and what they know,” the agent said.

He added: “We’re sorry we’ve disrupted your day. We apologize. You probably just want to finish your shift. We understand that. We’ll try to get this done as quickly as possible.”

Workers leaving Fuyao on Friday told the Dayton Daily News they were asked to take all their belongings to the cafeteria and allowed to leave one by one.

Department of Homeland Security officials said activities related to the investigation were ongoing in Dayton, Liberty Township, Miamisburg, Moraine and West Carrollton, but stressed there was currently “no threat to public safety.”

A spokesperson for Congressman Mike Turner said, “Congressman Turner’s office has been officially notified of the investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. Both the Congressman and his staff have been informed of the ongoing investigation. Because this is a pending criminal matter, the Congressman’s office will not comment at this time.”

Raids throughout the Dayton region

The Dayton Daily News received a tip earlier this month raising questions about whether a staffing company was illegally providing labor to Fuyao. Much earlier, a Miami Twp. resident complained that up to 25 men had moved into the house next to his and were being brought to the factory in 15-passenger vans for various shifts.

* Around noon Friday, six men and a woman sat handcuffed outside a home in the 1100 block of Irving Avenue in Dayton. Police wearing Department of Homeland Security and other agency gear went in and out of the home.

* In the 3700 block of Waterbury Drive in Kettering, Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were observed entering and exiting a residence.

A neighbor who wished to remain anonymous said he was in his bedroom around 10:30 a.m. when he heard sirens.

“I thought it was just someone who got pulled over or something,” he said. “Then I heard, ‘FBI, open up. FBI, open up.'”

The neighbor said the reaction was unusual for the normally quiet neighborhood.

“There are a lot of people living in the house, so we didn’t know exactly what was going on,” he said.

* Investigators also responded to a home in the 2400 block of Fox Run Road in Miami Twp. A neighbor told a Dayton Daily News reporter she frequently saw white vans coming and going to the house.

* Miamisburg police confirmed that OSHP and Department of Homeland Security investigators were in the 2200 block of East Central Avenue as part of the investigation. The building was formerly a business but is now vacant, Lt. Will Ring said.

* Homeland Security agents were also in the 1800 block of Hoyle Place in Kettering and spoke with a group of people outside a home.

Law enforcement in Fuyao

Back in Fuyao, several Ohio State Highway Patrol cars cordoned off the front and back of the plant at the corner of Kettering Boulevard and West Stroop Road on Friday morning.

White vans were removed from Fuyao by tow trucks. An EMA mobile emergency trailer arrived and a nonprofit organization provided food to people in Fuyao, a local source said.

Officials in the city of Moraine, where the Fuyao power plant is located, said the city was not involved in the alleged Department of Homeland Security investigation.

“The City of Moraine is not involved in the operation and DHS has not requested operational support,” a city spokesperson said.

State Senator Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg) issued a statement regarding X.

“I am deeply concerned about the federal police’s action in Fuyao today. Before I was elected, the State of Ohio provided millions of dollars in incentives to Fuyao through JobsOhio, knowing that American jobs would be created. I look forward to learning more about that today,” he said.

In 2014, the Chinese company Fuyao Global bought part of a closed General Motors plant in Moraine and converted it into the world’s largest production site for automotive glass, according to the company.

Fuyao Global claims to be the second largest glass manufacturer in the world and the largest in China.

In an election in November 2017, Fuyao workers decisively rejected an attempt by the United Auto Workers union to represent workers at their Moraine plant.

A Fuyao spokeswoman, Lei Shi, declined to comment on Friday.

Friday’s activities marked at least the second time in seven months that Department of Homeland Security officials visited a Moraine manufacturer. In January, Moraine police confirmed a search at Harco Manufacturing on Kettering Boulevard near Fuyao and said they assisted with the investigation there.