2nd guilty plea in Rancho Feeding slaughterhouse scandal

A worker at the former Rancho Feeding slaughterhouse in Petaluma has become the second defendant to plead guilty to distributing tainted meat, prompting speculation that he will cooperate with prosecutors in connection with alleged misdeeds that led to a massive beef recall last winter.

Eugene D. Corda, Rancho’s main yard person, pleaded guilty to one count on Oct. 10 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. As the worker who received and moved cattle for Rancho, the 65-year-old Petaluman was one of four men charged in August with selling meat from 180 diseased or condemned cattle and with tricking federal inspectors by swapping out the heads of cows with eye cancer.

A plea agreement between prosecutors and Corda remained sealed Monday. Neither his attorney nor a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office returned calls seeking comment on the status of the seven other charges that Corda had faced in an August indictment.

But observers said Corda apparently has struck a deal to receive a lesser punishment in return for bolstering the prosecution’s case against Rancho co-owner Jesse “Babe” Amaral Jr., and foreperson Felix Cabrera.

“It just seems there are some folks who are ready to cooperate with the government,” said Tony Corbo, a senior lobbyist with Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

Rancho co-owner Robert Singleton has pleaded guilty to the same crime as Corda and is expected to cooperate with prosecutors, according to court records.

Amaral, 76, of Petaluma and Cabrera, 55, of Santa Rosa have been indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy to distribute adulterated meat and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, among other charges. Both men have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Rancho recalled 8.7 million pounds of beef in February, a month after federal investigators raided the plant on Petaluma Boulevard North. The recall affected an estimated 44,000 retail establishments and caused significant financial harm to North Bay ranchers who had used the plant for the custom slaughter of their grass-fed cattle. The ranchers were ordered to dispose of any remaining meat processed at Rancho last year.

As a result of the recall, Rancho owners halted operations and sold the slaughterhouse. The plant reopened in April under the ownership of investors led by Marin Sun Farm CEO David Evans.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Rancho’s owners directed Corda and Cabrera to circumvent the inspection process for diseased cows. The indictment charges that employees fooled inspectors by taking heads they had saved from healthy cows and placing them for inspection next to carcasses of cows with eye cancer.

As well, Amaral allegedly directed Cabrera to have workers carve away the “USDA Condemned” stamp from carcasses and to process that meat for distribution and sale.

The trial dates for Amaral and Cabrera are expected to be scheduled on Dec. 17.

While watching the ongoing criminal case, ranchers, food safety activists and members of Congress are awaiting a pending federal report on the possible missteps of the USDA veterinarian and the inspectors assigned to monitor Rancho.

“That’s the other shoe to drop,” Corbo said.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @rdigit