FACES UP TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR “TRAFFICKING”
The manager of the Budgetel Motel in Cartesville, Georgia, repeatedly threatened a house cleaner, (who struggled with heroin addiction and homelessness), with eviction, to report her to law enforcement or child welfare agencies, made sexual overtures, and compelled her to perform oral sex on him in order for her stay at the motel.
On June 1, 2023, the manager (70) pleaded guilty to “trafficking with respect to peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude or forced labor,” and faces up to 20 years in prison, together with a $250,000 fine. (As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to pay the victim $40,000 in “mandatory restitution.")
In a written statement, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, observed, “Human trafficking is an abhorrent crime in which traffickers specifically identify and target the most vulnerable members of our society, often using fraudulent promises to offer hope to someone in need …. This conviction demonstrates that the Justice Department is committed to prosecuting motel operators and other landlords who misuse and abuse their position of power over tenants to compel them to engage in commercial sex acts.”
Who’s the most vulnerable now?
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