(Image Credit: IMAGN) The Kentucky Sentate gavel rests on the wooden sound block in the Kentucky Senate chambers before the first day of Concurrence began at the state Capitol in Frankfort, Ky. March 13, 2025.
El Cajon, California – The general manager of a San Diego-area industrial coatings company pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal immigration-related charges, concluding a months-long investigation that began with a high-profile federal raid in March.
John Washburn, 57, who served as the general manager of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings, admitted to knowingly employing undocumented workers at the company’s El Cajon warehouse. He was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to complete 50 hours of community service.
The plea follows a federal investigation into hiring practices at the company, which provides industrial paint and protective coatings for commercial, military, and government vessels. In March, federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted a raid on the business’s Magnolia Avenue facility, detaining multiple individuals and drawing public scrutiny over the company’s labor practices.
According to prosecutors, the investigation began when an undercover HSI agent, using falsified immigration documents, was able to gain employment at the company. A confidential informant already employed at the warehouse facilitated the hire and communicated to Washburn that the new worker was undocumented. Prosecutors said Washburn knowingly accepted the arrangement.
Court filings describe a workplace where immigration status was an open secret. Washburn reportedly acknowledged that many employees were not legally authorized to work in the United States and discussed with other managers the need to assign only those with “good paperwork” to military projects, where background checks are more stringent.
Washburn’s plea agreement includes a formal admission that he was aware of at least ten undocumented employees at the company. It also confirms that he permitted some of them to live inside the warehouse — a detail that federal agents cited as a significant red flag when they launched the March raid.
Though Washburn’s sentence does not include jail time, the case highlights the complex and often murky realities of immigration enforcement at the workplace level. It also raises broader questions about accountability among employers who benefit from undocumented labor while remaining insulated from the harsher legal consequences typically faced by the workers themselves.
Federal authorities have not indicated whether the company itself will face additional penalties or whether any of the other employees initially charged will be prosecuted further.
