OMAHA (TIP): An Indian couple, illegally staying in the US, was sentenced to one-year jail term for alien harboring. Vishnubhai Chaudhari, 50, and Leelabahen Chaudhari, 44, of Kimball, Nebraska, were sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison on Monday, March 19, by the federal court in Omaha.

The couple has pleaded guilty to alien harboring for financial gain and conspiracy to harbor an alien in December last year. They have also agreed to a stipulated judicial order of removal to India at the completion of their sentences and paid the victim $40,000 in restitution as a condition of their guilty pleas.

The couple admitted to conspiring to harbor the victim, who was an illegal alien from India, at a Super 8 Motel in Kimball between October 2011 and February 2013, said a statement issued by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE).

The victim was forced to work long hours, seven days a week at the motel. He did manual labor, including cleaning rooms, shoveling snow and doing laundry.

Though the couple promised to pay him a salary, they cheated him by not making the payment. The defendants claimed to apply the victim’s earned pay to a debt the victim owed. He was verbally abused and physically assaulted for not meeting the expectations of the couple.

Leelabahen Chaudhari slapped his face several times because he had failed to clean a bathtub to her standards, said the USICE statement.

Vishnubhai and Leelabahen also tried to restrict the victim’s movement and threatened to find him if he tried to escape.

“Today’s sentence, and the restitution awarded to the victim, sends a clear message that the Justice Department will use its full resources to prosecute defendants like this one who motivated by their greed violate our immigration laws and exploit a vulnerable individual who lacked immigration status,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

“This case is a reminder that labor exploitation occurs in the United States, not just overseas, and federal law targets those who profit from human trafficking and related crimes,” said US Attorney Joe Kelly for the District of Nebraska. “This case is a testament that such conduct will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted in the District of Nebraska.”

This case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Olimpia Michel and Shan Patel of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederick D. Franklin of the District of Nebraska.

(Source: DOJ)