Nery A. Martinez Vasquez, Kidnapping and Forced Labor, California 2023

A brutal case of kidnapping and forced labor has come to light in California, with two restaurant owners facing federal charges for their heinous crimes.

Nery A. Martinez Vasquez, 52, and his wife Maura N. Martinez, 52, both of Shasta Lake, California, have been charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, conspiracy to harbor aliens, and harboring aliens.

According to court documents, the defendants conspired to bring a Guatemalan woman and her two minor daughters to the United States using temporary visitor visas, harbored them after their visas expired, and forced them to work long hours at their restaurant and cleaning service for minimal to no pay.

The indictment further alleges that the defendants imposed a debt on the victims to prevent them from returning to Guatemala; subjected them to physical, psychological, and verbal abuse; threatened them with arrest; and separated the woman from her daughters, all to compel their labor.

In a shocking twist, the superseding indictment also alleges that in January 1997, the defendants conspired to kidnap a 13-year-old girl. They made promises to the girl’s parents that they would bring her back in a week and told the girl that they would give her presents and money. They then drove her from her home in Las Vegas to their home in Redding, California, and held her against her will and the will of her parents for almost two years.

They forced the girl to clean car dealerships and provide other labor, working long hours seven days a week without pay. Nery A. Martinez Vasquez is also alleged to have routinely sexually molested and raped the girl.

If convicted of the forced labor charges, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted of harboring an alien, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted of the kidnapping charges, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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