ACCOMAC, Va. - A former manager tied to a child labor investigation at an Accomack County poultry plant has now admitted in federal court to helping undocumented workers, including minors, obtain fraudulent identification documents so they could work illegally at the facility.
According to newly filed court documents, John Bernard Mitchum, a former division manager for Fayette Janitorial Service, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiracy and aggravated identity theft charges connected to the years-long investigation.
As WBOC previously reported, federal prosecutors unsealed indictments in November of 2025 connected to allegations that undocumented minors were working overnight sanitation jobs at the unnamed Accomack County poultry plant.
Wednesday’s legal development stems from a federal investigation that was launched in 2022 after a then-14-year-old worker suffered a serious arm injury while cleaning equipment at the plant. The New York Times would later report the incident occurred at a Perdue slaughterhouse.
The child had actually been hired by Fayette at age 13 under the alias of an adult to clean conveyor belts at the slaughterhouse, according to court records.
Perdue has previously said it had severed all ties with the janitorial company. In 2024, Fayette agreed to pay $649,000 in penalties and hire consultants to prevent child labor.
Federal investigators say Mitchum oversaw Fayette’s contracts at several facilities, including the Accomack poultry plant, and regularly traveled to the Eastern Shore location. The conspiracy ran from at least November 2020 through February 2024, authorities alleged.
On May 13, 2026, Mitchum agreed to a statement of facts in which he admitted that he knowingly participated in a scheme to hire undocumented workers using stolen or fraudulent identities, often reusing identities that had already passed employment verification systems. According to the filing, employees referred to the practice as “rehiring.”
Court documents say investigators later discovered many workers at the Accomack facility were minors or young adults attending Arcadia High School. Federal labor law prohibits anyone under 18 from working in poultry processing plants because of the hazardous conditions.
According to the filing, Homeland Security investigators reviewed employment records and found that 339 of 353 Fayette employees at the Accomack plant were working under suspect identification documents. Prosecutors further allege Mitchum helped undocumented workers obtain fake driver’s licenses, birth certificates, and Social Security cards. Text messages and Cash App records showed Mitchum coordinating purchases of fraudulent IDs for workers, according to court records.
Mitchum is now scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17 in Norfolk federal court. Another suspect in the case, Omar Lopez Albares, is also set to plead guilty to his involvement with the undocumented hirings, according to federal court filings.
