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Sentencing in slavery case in Washington state

October 27, 2011 (2 min read)

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."
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