OHIO
Three defendants were charged with luring illegal immigrant adults and minors to work on egg farms under false pretenses, and then, used threats of physical harm to keep them working on these farms, according to authorities.
The three — Aroldo Castillo-Serrano, 33, Ana Angelica Pedro Juan, 21, both of Guatemala, and Conrado Salgado Soto, 52, of Mexico — are charged with labor trafficking conspiracy, officials said.
Castillo-Serrano is also charged with 10 counts of forced labor, and Salgado Soto and Pedro Juan are charged in 8 of those 10 counts. Castillo-Serrano and Salgado Soto are also charged with related immigration offenses, along with a fourth defendant, Pablo Duran Jr., 23, an American citizen.
According to the indictment, the defendants and their associates recruited workers from Guatemala, some as young as 14 or 15 years old, falsely promising them good jobs and a chance to attend school in the United States.
The defendants then smuggled and transported the workers to a trailer park in Marion, Ohio, where they ordered them to live in dilapidated trailers and to work at physically demanding jobs at Trillium Farms for up to 12 hours a day, officials said.
The work included cleaning chicken coops, loading and unloading crates of chickens, de-beaking chickens and vaccinating chickens.
The defendants threatened workers with physical harm and withheld their paychecks in order to compel them to work. Eight minors and two adults are identified in the indictment as victims of the forced labor scheme, officials said.
Castillo-Serrano and Pedro Juan are also charged with witness tampering, and Pedro Juan is further charged with making false statements to law enforcement, officials said.
Each of the 11 forced labor and forced labor conspiracy counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, officials stated.
The charges involving immigration violations, witness tampering and false statements carry maximum sentences of five years in prison.
The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
