Nery Martinez, Forced Labor, California 2018

A brutal case of human exploitation has come to light in Shasta County, California, as a couple has been indicted for forcing a Guatemalan woman and her minor daughters into labor.

Nery Martinez, 50, and Maura Martinez, 50, of Shasta Lake, have been accused of conspiring to bring the victims to the United States using temporary visitor visas, then harboring them after their visas expired.

The indictment alleges that the defendants forced the victims to work long hours at a restaurant and cleaning service for minimal to no pay, while subjecting them to physical, psychological, and verbal abuse. The couple also allegedly imposed a debt on the victims to prevent them from returning to Guatemala and threatened them with arrest.

The victims were also separated from each other, with the Guatemalan woman being kept apart from her daughters, in an effort to compel their labor.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted of forced labor and conspiracy to commit forced labor, the defendants face sentences up to 20 years in prison, as well as mandatory restitution.

The case is the product of an investigation by the FBI’s Sacramento Division, which was one of six districts designated as a Phase II Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team through the interagency ACTeam Initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Labor.

The ACTeam Initiative focuses on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor, international sex trafficking, and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.

Nery Martinez, Maura Martinez, and their alleged crimes are a stark reminder of the brutal reality of human trafficking and the importance of continued efforts to combat it.

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