Tyno Keo, 38, and, Phearom Lay, 34, of Nacogdoches, Texas, were sentenced Monday (Aug. 20) in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, after previously pleading guilty to alien harboring for financial gain.
U.S. District Court Judge Ron Clark for the Eastern District of Texas sentenced Keo and Lay to six months incarceration followed by two years of supervised release. Clark also ordered the defendants to pay $5,000 each in fines and $41,024.31 in joint restitution.
According to court documents, between September 2012 and May 2013, the defendants harbored the victim and required her to work long hours for little pay performing childcare, cleaning their home, and as an employee at their business, the Donut Palace.
The scheme started in Cambodia, where Lay’s sister owed the defendants $50,000 for shared family medical expenses. To satisfy her debt, Lay’s sister arranged for the victim to obtain a temporary tourist visa and travel from Cambodia to the United States to work for the defendants. As a result, the $50,000 debt was transferred to the victim.
Once the victim arrived in the U.S., the Texas couple took possession of her passport and visa, and continued to harbor and employ her after her visa expired in December 2012. The defendants paid the victim $1,000 a month for her labor and withheld a portion of it to repay the purported $50,000 debt.
“The defendants violated immigration laws and exploited a vulnerable individual who lacked immigration status, requiring her to work long hours for little pay,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. “This Justice Department will not tolerate this type of immigration and labor exploitation, and is committed to aggressively pursuing and prosecuting individuals who engage in such crimes.”
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