SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Austin J. DeCoster, owner of DeCoster Farms, one of Iowa’s largest egg producers, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to five years probation for knowingly and repeatedly hiring illegal workers.

DeCoster, 68, of Clarion, could have faced six months in prison on each of two counts, but U.S. District Judge Mark W. Bennett said: “I don’t think you deserve prison time. You’ve done an extraordinary amount of work with the government.”

Bennett said he was impressed by DeCoster’s sincere efforts to comply with complex immigration regulations.

“I’d like to apologize for the problem I caused the government,” DeCoster said. “We’re making sure it’s fixed and won’t happen again.”

Last year, DeCoster settled a federal discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of Mexican women who said they were raped or sexually harassed by supervisors at four northern Iowa egg farms. DeCoster and Iowa Ag were to pay $1.53 million to the women and a domestic violence group. Neither company admitted liability.

In 1996, DeCoster was fined for health and safety violations at an egg farm near Turner, Maine. He later settled the case for $2 million.

In 1999, he ran into legal problems after failing to pay overtime to egg farm workers. He paid well over $5 million to settle the claims.

In the current case, immigration officials detained dozens of DeCoster workers between January 1997 and February 2002. At his plea hearing in August, DeCoster admitted he had ignored evidence that some were in the United States illegally.

The workers were hired by DeCoster’s labor contractor, Iowa Ag. In July, Iowa Ag owner John Glessner Jr. was sent to prison for four months on identical charges.

He paid more than $300,000 in fines and to settle a forfeiture claim.

Bennett said he initially thought he would sentence DeCoster to the maximum term, but when he looked at the plea agreement and the amount of money DeCoster already had paid in fines, he changed his mind.

“We gave the judge an opportunity to see DeCoster in another light,” said DeCoster’s attorney, F. Montgomery Brown.

When DeCoster pleaded guilty in August, he already had paid $2 million – including fines, settlement of a forfeiture claim and restitution, to cover the costs of removing the illegal workers and the cost of monitoring his egg farms over the next five years. DeCoster also agreed to surprise inspections and to open his books to immigration officials.

Bennett said he was concerned that it would look as if DeCoster was buying his way out of prison, but he decided that someone who has worked hard shouldn’t be penalized for making money.

He warned DeCoster that his probation could be revoked if he violates any conditions of the plea.

Brown said the agreement requires DeCoster to walk a thin tightrope to comply with immigration regulations.

“We’re not going to be here again. He’s committed to change and he’s taken responsibility for the past,” Brown said.

Prosecutor Judy Whetstine and Alonzo Martinez, interim agent in charge for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Omaha, Neb., both said they were satisfied with the sentence. Both said the most important thing was to get compliance from employers.

“We’re confident the word will get out and others will heed the law,” Martinez said.

Several of DeCoster’s former managers have faced charges involving illegal workers.