TEXAS
A federal grand jury indicted a Texas couple for forcing a female from West Africa to work for them for more than 16 years, according to authorities.
Defendants Mohamed Toure, 57, and Denise Cros-Toure, 57, of Ft. Worth, Texas, were charged Wednesday in a five-count indictment with forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain, and conspiracies to commit forced labor and alien harboring, officials said.
Defendant Toure was also charged with making false statements to federal agents.
The defendants were arrested on April 26, 2018, after being charged by criminal complaint.
According to the indictment, in January 2000, the defendants arranged for the victim, then a minor child, to travel alone from her village in Guinea, West Africa, to Southlake, Texas, to work for them in their home, according to officials.
For more than 16 years, the Toures allegedly forced her to work long hours – demanding she handle childcare, cook, clean, and perform yard work.
Although the victim was close in age to their five biological children, the couple denied her access to schooling, medical care, and other opportunities they afforded their own children, and on several occasions, Denise Cros-Toure slapped or struck her as punishment.
Until neighbors helped the victim escape in August 2016, the defendants allegedly denied her any pay, isolated her from her family and threatened serious harm if she refused to work, according to officials.
As part of their scheme to compel the victim’s labor, officials said the defendants confiscated her official documents and caused her to remain unlawfully in the United States after her tourist visa expired in March 2000 and threatened to send her back to Guinea if her work was unsatisfactory.
The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
If convicted of the crimes, they are each facing up to 30 years in prison.