27 Oct 2011
Sentencing in slavery case in Washington state
DOJ, Oct. 19, 2011: "Edk Kenit, 28, and Choimina Lukas, 30, a Micronesian couple living in Longview, Wash., were sentenced today for their roles in a scheme to compel the labor of an 18-year-old woman, also from Micronesia.
Kenit and Lukas were sentenced by U.S. Distrtict Judge Robert J. Bryan of the Western District of Washington.
Kenit was sentenced to 40 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Lukas was sentenced to 20 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
On July 27, 2011, Kenit and Lukas each pleaded guilty to compelled servitude through the use or withholding of documents.
Kenit and Lukas admitted in court that in March 2010 they
recruited the victim to travel from Micronesia to be their domestic
servant and arranged for her passport and travel to the United States.
Immediately upon her arrival, Kenit and Lukas took control of
the victim’s passport as part of their scheme to compel the victim to
work as their domestic servant providing full-time childcare, cooking
and cleaning services without compensation.
Kenit and Lukas also admitted that they obtained a Social Security card in the victim’s name which they concealed from her.
The defendants caused the victim to obtain full-time employment
at a local chicken processing plant and required that she cash her pay
checks and give the earnings to them.
This employment lasted for five months and was in addition to the domestic services the victim continued to provide.
Kenit and Lukas admitted that throughout the scheme they
isolated the victim by not permitting her to have friends, go out of the
house unmonitored or participate in social gatherings unrelated to
family activities.
The entire scheme lasted nearly one year before the victim escaped.
“The defendants’ exploitation of a vulnerable young woman is
reprehensible,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the
Civil Rights Division.
“Human trafficking is a scourge and the Justice Department will
continue to vigorously prosecute persons who engage in such intolerable
conduct.”
“These two defendants preyed on a young and vulnerable member of their
own family. They brought her to this country with promises of education
and travel, and instead forced her to work both in their home and at
hard labor to support them economically,” said U.S. Attorney for the
Western District of Washington Jenny A. Durkan. “Thankfully, an alert
neighbor and the Longview Police Department were able to rescue the
victim from this abuse.”
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the
Seattle Police Department High Risk Victims Unit and the Longview Police
Department.
Law enforcement received critical help from non-governmental
organizations which specialize in providing services to victims of
crime.
The case is being prosecuted jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Ye-Ting Woo and Trial Attorney Daniel Weiss of the Civil Rights
Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit."