Woman Faces 50 Years in Forced Labor of Undocumented Worker.

The following article came out today in the S.F. Chronicle.
Coming on the heels of having just finished William T. Weld's 'American Slavery as it is', It's especially relevant to look at the form of present day virtual slavery'. The horrors of slavery have little diminished in the world. It has instead adapted itself cunningly to the culture of today's world.

There are many "free trade zones" in third world countries, strategically located near shipping facilities and which constitute mini- spheres of influence, where the laws of the home country little apply. In these areas the work conditions, treatment of employees, social and family lives and relations, are all closely monitored and controlled by the host company.

Many employees labor for little more than subsistence. Their choice, is to either work, or to die. There is little or no health care, no occupational safety or health, sick time, vacation time, or overtime.

If you compound the situation discussed below, though horrible and inhumane, it pales in comparison to slavery as it was practiced in the 17th-19th century in America, yet, the woman who extracted forced labor from her nanny for a period of 3-4 years, is now, having been convicted, facing a total of 50 years in federal prison for her crimes.

The perpetrator has three children of her own, at least two of which are in elementary school. It is doubtful that once she is sentenced, that her children will see her in the free air until they are well into their adult lives.

Click on this link to view an online copy of the Superseding indictment.It's an excellent read to see the thoroughness of the prosecutors investigation, which leaves no doubt as to the guilt of the accused on several main counts. Once they had the original tourist Visa application, signed by the perpetrator, stating that the woman in question would stay for only a week, in a motel in Miami, only to be found in the perpetrators apartment in Walnut Creek three years later (having transferred flights in Miami on the day of arrival), it was but little work of the prosecutor to establish the point that the entire foul conspiracy, from the visa application until the victim having escaped her persecutos, had been undertaken, in a manner completely in line with the allegations and testimony of the enslaved nanny.

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, October 10, 2009

A Walnut Creek real estate agent has been convicted of charges that she lured a Peruvian nanny to the East Bay with promises of a better life but instead kept her as an indentured servant for nearly two years. Mabelle de la Rosa Dann, 46, also known as Mabelle Crabbe, kept the nanny a virtual prisoner, cut her off from Spanish-speaking media and rationed her food, authorities said.

She was found guilty Thursday by a federal jury in Oakland of forced labor and other charges. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken is to sentence her Jan. 13. "No person should ever be forced to live in a world of fear, isolation and servitude," said John Morton, an assistant secretary for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Dann helped bring Zoraida Pena-Canal, 30, of Peru into the United States on a three-month visitor's visa in July 2006.

Prosecutors said Dann lured Pena-Canal here with the promise that she would live in a large house with her own bedroom and private bathroom. Dann allegedly said she would pay Pena-Canal $600 a month after deducting the cost of the plane ticket for the first five months.Instead, Pena-Canal knew almost no world outside Dann's 900-square-foot apartment on Ygnacio Valley Road in the Cypress Creek apartment complex in Walnut Creek, where the two women lived with Dann's three children, Special Agent Jennifer Alderete of Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrote in an affidavit filed in federal court. Pena-Canal worked seven days a week caring for the children, cleaning the apartment, cooking and washing laundry, Alderete wrote. She was forced to live on the living room floor. Pena-Canal "appeared unkempt and wore the same clothing each day," Alderete wrote.

Dann never paid the nanny and instead charged her about $15,000 for Dann's expenses in Peru, including her costs for searching for nannies before she hired Pena-Canal, the affidavit said. Dann took the nanny's visa, passport and Peruvian identification each day with her when she went to work, authorities said. Dann allegedly told her nanny, "When you come to the United States, you must suffer," authorities said.

Dann broke Pena-Canal's radio and a television set, telling her that she didn't want her to listen to or view Spanish-speaking programs "because it would put ideas in her head," the affidavit said. Dann also rationed Pena-Canal's food, weighing her meat and counting out the number of pieces of fruit she could eat, investigators said. Pena-Canal eventually confided in people at Indian Valley Elementary School, where Dann's twin sons were students. She fled from the apartment April 16, 2008, and witnesses contacted authorities.

In addition to forced labor, Dann was convicted of unlawful use of documents in furtherance of servitude, harboring an illegal alien for the purpose of private financial gain, conspiracy to commit visa fraud and visa fraud. Nancy Harris, an attorney representing Pena-Canal in the suit, said Friday that her client "feels extremely vindicated by this verdict, which bolsters her unflinching belief in this country's justice system."