Florida couple accused of abusing Pinoy workers plead guilty 09/19/2010

Florida couple accused of abusing Pinoy workers plead guilty
09/19/2010
WASHINGTON — A Florida couple pleaded guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino employees against their will working in country clubs and hotels, the US Justice Department yesterday said.

Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, were owners of a labor contracting service based in the Florida city of Boca Raton.

Manuel and Baldonado “conspired to obtain a cheap, compliant and readily available labor pool, by making false promises to entice the victims to incur debts,” read a Departmentof Justice statement, quoting court documents

.

The co-conspirators promised the workers high wages and two to three years of steady work in the United States, then had the workers pay “substantial recruitment fees, including their airfare,” which put them in debt to their US-based employers, according to an indictment earlier this year..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100919hed6.html