Posted on 09/10/2019 11:13:45 PM PDT by ransomnote
Full Title: A Dozen Calif. Church Leaders Indicted For Allegedly Holding People Captive & Forcing Them Into Labor
El CENTRO – A dozen leaders of Imperial Valley Ministries, including the former pastor, are charged in an indictment unsealed today with subjecting dozens of mostly homeless people to forced labor, coercing them to surrender welfare benefits and compelling them to panhandle up to nine hours a day, six days a week, for the financial benefit of the church leaders.
The defendants were arrested today in El Centro, San Diego and Brownsville, Texas and charged with conspiracy, forced labor, document servitude and benefits fraud. The local defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in El Centro today at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro.
“The indictment alleges an appalling abuse of power by church officials who preyed on vulnerable homeless people with promises of a warm bed and meals,” said U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer. “These victims were held captive, stripped of their humble financial means, their identification, their freedom and their dignity.”
“Human trafficking robs victims of their most basic human rights,” said FBI Special Agent-In-Charge Scott Brunner. “Victims of human trafficking are often unseen by society, left pleading in silence. Today, the FBI is proud to break up the labor trafficking alleged to have been committed by the leaders of Imperial Valley Ministries in Imperial Valley and San Diego.
SNIP
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Conspiracy – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 371 Maximum penalty: Five years in prison and $250,000 fine
Forced Labor – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1589 Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $250,000 fine
Document Servitude – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1592 Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $250,000 fine
Food Stamp Act (Benefits Fraud) – Title 7, U.S.C., Section 2024(b) Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $250,000 fine (If the benefits were $5,000 or more)
Have heard of this going on before in churches. Guess the pastor was not good enough to make it as a televangalist
Bkmk
I’m sorry. And how is this different from the FredocRAT Party?
During which time they were somehow unable to escape?
You have to read the entire article before they tell you the names of the indicted people.
All 12 are Hispanic.
I live in a suburb of Seattle.
About once a year we have a major prostitution bust with mostly illegal immigrant trafficked women.
The owners and supervisors are always Asian.
the Trump roundup this should be done.Check the precinct list of registered voters where these people resided. If they’re on that list, Federal crime, charge them and those that enabled them to vote knowing they were illegals. If enough noise is made it should discourage illegals still here from voting. Besides determining how they got a drivers license show how much it’s costing taxpayers of that state. Also point out increased premiums on drivers insurance rates. As well as demonstrate how that areas ,local ,state and federal taxes are increased by diverting educational, medical, food and housing allocations to meet illegal’s needs at citizen expense.
This comes as no surprise to me. A large majority of these illegal grass crawlers are being bought over as slaves to their own race.
Scientology?
Now I know why certain churches are so adamant about providing sanctuary and sheltering illegals!
Did they use walls to prevent them from leaving?
This is a bad site. It tried to force a download on my computer.
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