Legal News

Alien smuggling and forced labor scheme undone in federal court

By Richard Binder

The owner of two elder care homes in Long Beach has pleaded guilty on March 23, 2009 to bringing undocumented aliens into the United States and forcing two of them to work at her businesses.

Evelyn Pelayo, 53, a resident of Long Beach, pleaded guilty on March 23, 2009 to forced labor and unlawful conduct of holding passports to further forced labor. Pelayo owned two residences in Long Beach where she operated elderly care and boarding facilities called Vernon Way Care Home and Walton Care Home.

In a plea agreement filed in federal court, Pelayo admitted that she paid a co-defendant $6,000 to smuggle two undocumented aliens into the United States from the Philippines and then forced them to work at her elder care homes after confiscating their passports and threatening to turn them over to authorities if they attempted to escape. Pelayo's husband, Darwin Padolina, 56, pleaded guilty on March 23, 2009 to harboring a third undocumented alien for private financial gain. Padolina admitted that he concealed the undocumented alien for 10 years while the person worked as a domestic servant.

The case against Pelayo and her husband was investigated by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Task Force on Human Trafficking. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandy Leal and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Kayla Bakshi.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 25, 2009 (boomark / email).