Nesly Mwarecheong, Passport Coercion, Iowa 2019

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Micronesian Couple Sentenced for Withholding Passports to Coerce Labor

A disturbing case of passport coercion has come to light in Ottumwa, Iowa, where a Micronesian couple, Nesly Mwarecheong and Bertino Weires, have been sentenced to 48 months in prison for their role in coercing the labor of two men in a meat processing plant.

According to court documents, the defendants convinced the two victims to leave their homes in Micronesia in December 2019 and travel to the United States by promising them they could work in the country and send money back to their families. However, once in the United States, the defendants confiscated the victims’ passports and social security cards, forcing them to work long hours in a meat processing plant in Ottumwa, Iowa, for minimal pay.

The defendants used various means to compel the victims’ labor and services, including confiscating their passports and social security cards, imposing debts on them, limiting and monitoring their communication with family, physically and socially isolating them, and creating a system of total financial dependence on the defendants.

‘These defendants used the promise of well-paid jobs to lure the victims to come to the United States in search of a better future for themselves and their families,’ said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. ‘These defendants then proceeded to callously exploit the victims, using their power over them to profit off their hard work.’

The victims were forced to work in the meat processing plant for almost three years, with the defendants taking nearly the entire amount of their paychecks, leaving them with a nominal amount each week. The defendants’ actions were a clear case of passport coercion, a form of human trafficking that is all too common in the United States.

The case was investigated by Investigator Jeremy Tosh of the Ottumwa Police Department, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Virginia Bruner and Ryan Leemkuil for the Southern District of Iowa, and Trial Attorney Christina Randall-James of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuting the case.

The sentence of 48 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and nearly $70,000 in restitution to the victims, is a significant blow to the defendants, who have been held accountable for their heinous crimes.