$248K black-market chicken thefts lead to prison sentences

Susan Parker | The Daily Times

Show Caption Hide Caption Death at Delaware chicken plant preceded by OSHA violations A death caused by an industrial accident at Allen Harim’s chicken plant in Harbeson is just the latest example of the dangers poultry workers face each time they clock in.

Three Delmarva men were sentenced on charges of interstate transportation of stolen chicken parts of more than $240,000.

On Oct. 19, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Lamar Tiquon Greene, 39, of Easton, Maryland, on charges of interstate transportation of stolen chicken parts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland.

Co-defendants Dondrey Tamount Copper, 43, also of Easton, and Clifton A. Seeney, 58, of Millsboro, were sentenced Oct. 16, on the same charges.

According to their plea agreements, Seeney was a commercial truck driver who worked for a company that was contracted to transport pallets of frozen, processed chicken parts from a company in Maryland. This company owned and operated poultry processing facilities, hatcheries and feed mills in various locations on the East Coast.

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Greene and Copper worked at the company’s plant in Cordova.

The chicken processing plant had a product inventory management system that used, among other things, barcode scanning to track the movement of its product inventory from the time chickens came into the facility with feathers until they left as ready-to-cook chicken parts.

For eight months in 2015, from April through Dec. 9, Seeney, Greene and Copper exploited the system by stealing pallets of frozen chicken parts and selling them in the New York City area, according to the release.

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Specifically, as detailed in their plea agreements, Seeney would text Copper information concerning Seeney’s truckload assignment. Greene and Copper would scan the barcodes on pallets of cargo destined for wholesale customers back into the production inventory, then surreptitiously remove them without further scanning. The pallets were loaded onto a truck driven by Seeney that was already loaded with inventory destined for legitimate customers.

Copper would inform Seeney of the number and location of the stolen pallets on Seeney’s truckload. Seeney would then deliver the stolen chicken parts to black-market customers while also delivering pallets of chicken products to legitimate customers.

On Dec. 9, 2015, another employee at the processing plant alerted his supervisor that pallets of chicken parts had been loaded onto a trailer without properly being scanned out of inventory.

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Seeney was operating the truck hauling this trailer. The employee also spoke with Copper and Greene, who provided false accounts about the product on the trailer.

The trucking company owner attempted to reach Seeney to tell him to return to the plant, and another driver spoke with Seeney and advised him of the owner’s order to return.

Seeney ignored the order, denied anything was wrong with his load and continued to New York City, where he delivered the product to the legitimate customers. GPS tracking revealed in addition that Seeney traveled to another location where he off-loaded stolen chicken products and received cash in return.

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Seeney later posted photos to his social media account, taken while in the cab of the truck, flashing a wad of cash he received from the buyer of the stolen product.



Subsequent investigation revealed text messages between Copper and Seeney referencing the availability of stolen chicken products for delivery to black-market customers.

The insurance carrier for the chicken processing company estimated the value of the stolen chicken products at approximately $248,000, the release stated.

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Greene was sentenced to seven months in federal prison, followed by seven months of home detention. Copper was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison, followed by six months of home detention and Seeney was sentenced to four months in federal prison followed by four months of home detention. All three sentences were part of three years of supervised release.

Judge Bennett also ordered that all three of the defendants must pay restitution totaling $248,721.