Minnesota Attorney General Charges Stearns County Dairy Farm Owner with Racketeering and Wage Theft

(KNSI) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Tuesday that his office has filed criminal charges in Stearns County District Court against Evergreen Acres LLC owner Keith Schaefer.

The suit was filed after the AG’s office got a referral from County Attorney Janelle Kendall.

Schaefer is charged with one count of felony racketeering and four counts of wage theft exceeding $5,000. According to the criminal complaint, employees at Evergreen Acres Dairy alleged that Schaefer and others under his direction routinely withheld earned wages by failing to pay employees for their full regular hours, did not pay workers overtime, and refused to issue final paychecks when employees left the company. They also say they were subjected to abuse, including threatening to report them to law enforcement, and threats of physical violence and even death if they challenged the withheld wages, reported a workplace injury or said they wanted to quit.

The suit says Schaefer was the one who was directly involved with daily operations of the dairy, including hiring, firing, scheduling, and taking care of payroll disputes.

The complaint further states that Schaefer was directly involved in the daily operations of Evergreen Acres Dairy, including hiring, firing, scheduling, and managing payroll disputes.

This is not the first time Evergreen Acres Dairy has come under fire by the Attorney General’s office. The state also took civil action against Schaefer for wage and overtime violations, records falsification, and for forcing workers to live in deplorable conditions. The two sides settled in October.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension conducted the investigation leading to these charges.

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