A Moorestown couple was convicted Wednesday of coercing two women who entered the country illegally to work for themby threatening to beat them and taking away their passports and visas, federal prosecutors said.
Bolaji Bolarinwa, 50, was found guilty of two counts of forced labor, one count of alien harboring for financial gain and two counts of document servitude and Isiaka Bolarinwa, 67, was convicted of two counts of forced labor and one count of alien harboring for financial gain, the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of New Jersey said in a release. They were both acquitted of a second count of alien harboring for financial gain.
Between December 2015 and October 2016, the Bolarinwas, originally from Nigeria but living in Burlington County as U.S. citizens, recruited two women to come to United States and coerced them to perform domestic labor and childcare services, the office said. They did so through through violence, threats of physical harm, isolation, constant surveillance and psychological abuse.
The couple did so while knowing that the women were out of lawful status while working in their home, authorities said.
When the first woman arrived in December 2015, Bolaji confiscated her passport and coerced her through threats of physical harm to her and her daughter, verbal abuse, isolation and constant surveillance to compel her to work every day, around-the-clock for nearly a year, investigators said.
Isiaka was aware of his wife’s threats and abusive behavior toward the victim and directly benefited from the victim’s cooking, cleaning and childcare, officials said.
The pair then recruited a second woman to come to the United States on a student visa, authorities said. When she arrived in the United States in April 2016, Bolaji similarly took her passport and made her do household work and childcare, but relied more heavily on physical abuse, the office said.
On at least one occasion, Isiaka physically abused her, authorities said.
The women lived and worked in the Bolarinwa home until October 2016, when the second woman notified a professor at her college, who reported the information to the FBI, investigators said.
“These defendants engaged in an egregious bait-and-switch, luring the victims with false promises of a life and an education in the United States, and instead subjected them to grueling hours, physical abuse and psychological abuse,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement.
“Forced labor and human trafficking are abhorrent crimes that have no place in our society, and I am grateful to our team of prosecutors, agents and support staff for ensuring that justice was done in this case.”
It was not immediately clear where the two victims in the care are located now.
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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
