Former Rancho Feeding owner to face trial in July

Jury selection is set for July 16 for Babe Amaral, 76, owner of the former Rancho Feeding plant, the subject of a massive recall earlier this year.|
ROBERT DIGITALE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Former Petaluma slaughterhouse co-owner Jesse “Babe” Amaral Jr. is scheduled to stand trial alone next July on charges of knowingly selling tainted meat, as three other defendants all have reached plea agreements with prosecutors.

Jury selection is set for July 16 for Amaral, 76, owner of the former Rancho Feeding plant, the subject of a massive recall early this year. The date was set last week at a hearing in San Francisco before U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer.

Last month, former plant foreman Felix Sandoval Cabrera, 55, became the third defendant to enter an agreement and plead guilty to one count of distributing tainted meat. Rancho co-owner Robert Singleton and employee Eugene Corda previously reached similar plea agreements and are expected to cooperate in the prosecution of Amaral.

Prosecutors in August alleged the four men sold meat from 180 diseased or condemned cattle and tricked federal inspectors by swapping out the heads of cows with eye cancer. Amaral faces 11 counts.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.
Send a letter to the editor