Three Defendants Sentenced in Human Trafficking Case
Three individuals have received prison sentences for their roles in an international labor human trafficking operation, as reported by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Each defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy for money laundering, and following their prison time, they will serve three years under supervised release, as stated in a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
- Margarita Rojas Cardenas, 48, from Reidsville, Georgia, was sentenced to 51 months and ordered to pay over $20,000 in restitution.
- Nery Rene Carillo-Najarro, 61, from Douglas, Georgia, received a sentence of 40 months, with a restitution hearing scheduled for August.
- Brett Donavan Bussey, 44, also from Douglas, was sentenced to 10 months and must pay more than $6,000 in restitution.
The group was involved in transporting workers from Mexico and Central America to farms in South Georgia.
“The conspirators required the workers to pay unlawful fees for transportation, food, and housing while illegally withholding their travel and identification documents. They subjected the workers to physically demanding labor for little or no pay, housing them in unsanitary conditions and threatening them with deportation and violence,” the release outlined.
As detailed in court documents, the investigation into the Patricio criminal organization began in November 2019. Since at least 2015, the group had engaged in various offenses, including mail fraud and international forced labor trafficking. They were also accused of misusing the H-2A visa program to bring foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras into the U.S. under the guise of providing agricultural work.
The release mentioned that these recent sentences conclude a case originally involving 24 defendants, many of whom have already been sentenced or ordered to pay restitution, amounting to more than $1.3 million in total.
Allegedly, the conspirators made over $200 million from this scheme, according to the release.
