OHIO
A federal judge sentenced the leader of a human trafficking organization to 15 years in prison for his role in luring Guatemalan migrants to work on egg farms.
The migrants were lured under false pretenses, and then used threats of physical harm to make them work on egg farms in Ohio
U.S. District Judge James G. Carr sentenced Aroldo Castillo-Serrano, 33, to 15 years in prison and co-defendant Ana Angelica Pedro-Juan, 22, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The judge ordered the defendants to pay a total of $67,230 in restitution to the victims.
“These defendants preyed on the hopes of vulnerable young workers, turning their dreams into a nightmare by exploiting their undocumented status and using fear to compel them to work long hours for minimal pay,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta.
Adding, “This case demonstrates the Justice Department’s firm commitment to combating labor trafficking by holding traffickers accountable and restoring the rights, freedom and dignity of victims. I commend the strong partnerships that contributed to dismantling this human trafficking organization.”
Castillo-Serrano pleaded guilty on Aug. 24, 2015, to conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, witness tampering and alien harboring charges.
Pedro-Juan pleaded guilty on Dec. 14, 2015, to conspiracy to commit forced labor.
According to the evidence, the defendants and their associates recruited workers from Guatemala, some as young as 14 or 15 years old, by 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 for minimal amounts of money.
The work included cleaning chicken coops, loading and unloading crates of chickens, debeaking chickens and vaccinating chickens. Eight minors and two adults were identified in the indictment as victims of the forced labor scheme, according to the evidence.
Castillo-Serrano recruited the victims, smuggled them into the United States, oversaw money transfers and issued threats to ensure compliance.
Pedro-Juan falsely represented herself to government officials as a family friend of the minor victims in order to have them released to her custody. She also oversaw the trailers where the victims were housed and arranged for their wages to be transferred to co-conspirators in Guatemala and elsewhere.
“These defendants forced minors to work around the clock and live in inhumane conditions, while threatening them and their relatives,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Carole S. Rendon. “Today’s prison sentence underscores the severity of these human trafficking cases, but also should serve as a reminder that these cases happen all around us in plain sight.”
A third co-defendant, Conrado Salgado-Soto, was sentenced on April 11, 2016, to 51 months in prison.
Three more defendants, Conrado Salgado-Borbon, Bartolo Dominguez and Pablo Duran Jr., pleaded guilty to immigration offenses in connection with this case and were sentenced to six, 12 and 15 months in prison, respectively.
The investigation is ongoing.