"A
Florida couple pleaded
guilty to conspiring to hold 39 Filipino employees against their will working in country clubs and hotels, the US Justice Department said Friday. Sophia Manuel, 41, and Alfonso Baldonado Jr., 45, were owners of a labor contracting service based in the Florida city of Boca Raton. Manuel and Baldonado "conspired to obtain a cheap, compliant and readily available labor pool, by making false promises to entice the victims to incur debts," read a Department of Justice statement, quoting
court documents." (thanks V.)