Nery A. Martinez Vasquez, Conspiracy to Commit Forced Labor, California 2021

Redding Restaurant Owner Faces 20 Years in Prison for Forcing Minor Children to Work in Restaurants and Cleaning Services.

A California couple has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit forced labor in a shocking case of human trafficking that left a Guatemalan relative and her two minor daughters trapped in a nightmare of exploitation.

Nery A. Martinez Vasquez, 53, and his wife Maura N. Martinez, 53, both naturalized United States citizens originally from Guatemala, owned and operated Latino’s, a restaurant, and Redding Carpet Cleaning & Janitorial Services, a cleaning company that serviced various businesses in the Shasta Lake area.

According to court documents, the defendants convinced a Guatemalan relative and her two minor daughters to come to the United States in August 2016 by falsely promising them a better life. They arranged for the victims to enter the United States using temporary visitor visas and then compelled them to overstay their visas and work long hours at Latino’s restaurant and Redding Carpet Cleaning & Janitorial Services for minimal to no pay between September 2016 and February 2018.

The defendants conspired with one another to manufacture an inflated debt that they told the victims they owed and instructed them that they could not leave until they repaid this fictitious debt. They also abused the legal system by threatening to call the authorities on the victims and have them arrested for overstaying their visas if they did not comply with their requests.

The victims were housed in a dilapidated, unheated trailer with no running water, and degraded and humiliated in front of others. Nery Martinez Vasquez even went as far as hitting the minor victims with a stick when angry.

The case highlights the cruel and inhumane nature of human trafficking and the importance of eradicating such crimes from our society.

Nery A. Martinez Vasquez is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb on November 8, 2021, and faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office continues its commitment to protect and defend vulnerable members of our society from human trafficking, and the FBI is committed to identifying and investigating human trafficking, seeking justice for victims, regardless of immigration status.

Related Federal Cases