Filtered By: Pinoyabroad
Pinoy Abroad

Fil-Am couple pleads guilty to Florida forced-labor charges


Some 39 Filipino workers allegedly duped into forced labor in country clubs and hotels in Southeast Florida are likely to get justice after a couple who supposedly recruited the victims pleaded guilty to the charges against them. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, made false promises to entice the victims to incur debts. Manuel and Baldonado, owners of Quality Staffing Services Corp., a labor contracting service, “pleaded guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino nationals in compelled service in country clubs and hotels in Southeast Florida," the US DOJ said in a release on its website. “Manuel also pleaded guilty to making false statements in an application she filed with the US Department of Labor to obtain foreign labor certifications and visas under the federal H2B guest worker program," it added. The DOJ cited court documents where Manuel and Baldonado conspired to “obtain a cheap, compliant, and readily available labor pool." Court documents also showed the two defendants compelled the victims’ labor and services through threats to have the workers arrested and deported, knowing the workers faced serious economic harm and possible incarceration for nonpayment of debts in the Philippines. “After the victims arrived at the defendants’ residence in Boca Raton, Fla., the defendants confiscated their passports; housed them in overcrowded, substandard conditions without adequate food or drinking water; put them to work at area country clubs and hotels for little or no pay; required them to remain in the defendants’ service, unpaid when there was insufficient work; ordered them not to leave the premises without permission and an escort; and threatened to have the workers arrested and deported for complaining about these terms and conditions," the DOJ said. “These defendants victimized vulnerable individuals for profit. Forced labor robs victims of their freedom and their dignity, and it will not be tolerated in this country," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. Wifredo Ferrer, US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, added that the Filipinos left their families and homeland in search of a better life. Yet, he said the 39 Filipinos were subjected to a nightmare in the US. “Each day, people leave behind their families and homelands in search of freedom and a better life in the United States. The individuals in this case were no different. They came here seeking a better life, but found their dream of freedom and a better life transformed into a real-life nightmare of servitude and fear. With today's guilty pleas, we come one step closer to punishing the defendants for their crimes," he said. The case was investigated by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, the US Department of Labor, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of State - Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Florida Office of the Attorney General. It is being prosecuted by trial attorney Susan French of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and Assistant US Attorney Shaniek Maynard, the Justice Department said. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV

LOADING CONTENT