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Fremont Family Sentenced for Human Trafficking
A California woman and her family have been sentenced for their roles in a human trafficking case. Fang Ping Ding, 62, of Fremont, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for confiscating the passport, visa, and other documents of a woman from the People’s Republic of China in order to maintain control over the victim and force her to work as an unpaid, live-in domestic servant.
The victim was brought to the United States in April 2008 and was forced to work without pay for more than a year. Ding physically abused the victim, threatened to falsely report her to law enforcement, and maintained control of her visa and passport. Ding’s daughter, Wei Wei Liang, 36, was sentenced to home confinement, while her son-in-law, Bo Shen, 43, received a probationary sentence on related immigration charges.
The court also ordered the defendants to jointly pay the victim $83,866.61 and to forfeit $346,000 to the government. The defendants pleaded guilty to the charges on November 1, 2010.
U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong handed down the sentences in the Northern District of California. The victim provided cooking, cleaning, and child care services in the defendants’ home.
“The defendants deprived the victim of her freedom through physical abuse and psychological intimidation for their own financial benefit,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Their conduct created a condition of modern-day slavery for the victim within the walls of their home.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Huang and Trial Attorney Karen Ruckert Lopez with the assistance of legal assistant Jeanne Carstensen. The U.S. Attorney filed charges in a superseding information against Ding, Liang, and Shen on May 27, 2010.
The sentences were welcomed by law enforcement officials, who said they should serve as a warning to those who engage in human trafficking. “No one should be forced to live in a world of isolation and servitude as this victim was, particularly in a country that prides itself on its freedoms,” said Mark Wollman, Special Agent in Charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Homeland Security Investigations.
The case is a reminder of the ongoing struggle against human trafficking in the United States. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will continue to work together to protect the rights of victims and to bring perpetrators to justice.
RELATED: Joel Ausbie Gets 151 Months for Arson, Extortion Plot
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Human Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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