US accountant pleaded guilty to applying “modern slavery” to Mexican workers

A 43-year-old woman from Florida identified as Christina Gamez, pleaded guilty to a federal extortion conspiracy that victimized Mexican farmworkers admitted to the United States under the H-2A temporary visa program. This was reported by the Department of Justice of the neighboring country on April 9.

According to research, through coercive means they obtained thousands of hours of physically demanding agricultural labor from workers, all for a minimum wage.

According to the investigations, the woman stated that both she and her co-conspirators had violated employees by confiscating their passports, subjecting them to overcrowded, unhealthy and degrading living conditions; isolating them and limiting their interaction with the outside world.

This while working as an accountant, manager, and supervisor of Los Villatoros Harvesting (LVH), a labor recruitment company that employs Mexican workers who harvest fruits and vegetables in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia.

A date has not yet been set for Gamez's sentencing hearing; however, the woman faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $25,000.

A U.S. federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering sentencing guidelines and other legal factors. As part of his plea agreement, Gamez has agreed to pay more than $9,000 in restitution to victims.

It should be noted that the case began to be investigated since 2018, based on an accusation revealed by the acting federal prosecutor for the Southern District of Georgia, David H. Estes, in which he stated that 24 people conspired for three years to smuggle Mexican and Central American workers and force them to work in conditions that he described as “brutal” on farms located in the southern, central and northern regions of Georgia, United States.

At a press conference issued on December 1, 2021, the prosecutor pointed to workers' conditions as “modern slavery.”

After receiving a notice from a traffic hotline in November 2018, federal officers of the Homeland Security Investigations Act, the U.S. UU. , the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service, the Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating multiple agrarian organizations registered in the name of María Leticia Patricio.

Officials have discovered that since 2015, these organizations have conspired together to bring more than 100 foreign workers to the United States, exploit them and imprison them in inhumane conditions, according to US media outlet Savannah Morning News.

The multi-agency investigation culminated on Nov. 17, when 200 federal agents executed more than 20 search warrants in three jurisdictions and executed a dozen seizure warrants from financial institutions.

The prosecutor for the Southern District of Georgia called “Operation Blooming Onion,” which he called the “largest law enforcement organization to pursue this particular crime.”

Trafficked workers worked mainly on onion farms, digging with their bare hands. According to the information in the case, they were paid only 20 cents for each bucket. The conspirators forced the workers, despite earning very little, to pay for transport, food and housing.

This case was investigated by the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force (including the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office), with assistance from the Department of Labor's Office of the Inspector General and the Department's Diplomatic Security Service of State.

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