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View All NewsTwo plead guilty in forced labor case
The owners of Quality Staffing Services Corp., of Boca Raton FL, pleaded guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino nationals in forced labor conditions at sites that included country clubs and hotels in southeast Florida, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida reported.
Pleading guilty to the charges were Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The defendants made false promises to get the workers to take on debts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The defendants then compelled workers' labor through threats to have the workers arrested and deported, knowing the workers faced serious economic harm and possible jail for nonpayment of debts in the Philippines.
The defendants also confiscated the workers' passports and housed them in substandard conditions without adequate food or drinking water, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. In addition, the defendants required the victims to work for little or no pay and did not allow them to leave without permission and an escort.