Two O'ahu farm officials were indicted by a federal grand jury today on charges of assisting illegal immigrants to land jobs as farm laborers.

Charged in the 22-count indictment were David Kato, 51, an employee of Waikele Farms, Inc., and Glen Kelley McCaig, 43, an employee of Larry Jefts Farms, LLC.

Under the indictment, Kato is charged with six felony counts and McCaig with 16, according to a news release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If convicted of all the charges, Kato faces up to 45 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine, the release said. McCaig faces 100 years in prison and a $4 million fine.

The men are accused of assisting the illegal workers commit visa fraud, helping them misrepresent Social Security numbers and other violations.

The charges are part of an ongoing ICE investigation that has targeted not just illegal immigrants but also companies that hire them.

In July, ICE agents arrested 42 aliens working at farms jobs on O'ahu and living at a townhouse complex in Waipahu.

In August, the U.S. attorney's office secured indictments of 22 of the illegal immigrants and eventually reached plea agreements with seven of the defendants that required them to cooperate with the government. Fourteen of the remaining defendants entered guilty pleas to the charges against them.

As reported in September in The Advertiser, some of the cooperating defendants were released from custody and given temporary federal work permits that allowed them to legally work here while the charges against them were resolved and the investigation continued.

According to the indictment, illegal workers and the companies that want to hire them engage in a "documenting scheme" that is commonly used by employers to "knowingly recruit and employ aliens who have entered the United States without permission."

The illegal workers first purchase "packages" of false papers including counterfeit permanent resident cards and false social security cards.

Many of the cooperating defendants here said they bought their papers on the street in California after sneaking into the country.

A prospective employer "then inspects and examines" the phony papers to determine if they are "of sufficient quality to pass cursory inspection," the indictment said.

If the papers pass the exam, the employer can "attest that the counterfeit permanent resident card does in fact appear to be genuine," the indictment said.

If the papers are of poor quality, the employer "tells the employee that the 'paper' is not good enough and directs the employee to obtain better counterfeit documents," the government alleged.