Couple arrested for human trafficking

AN Asian American couple arrested in California on various criminal charges including labor human trafficking.

The Gilroy based couple identified as Balwinder Singh Mann and his wife Amarjit Mann, both 66, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and Santa Clara County District Attorney (DA) said in a statement.

According to the ABC and the DA's office, the couple locked a man in their liquor store M&M Liquors located on Westwood Drive in Gilroy.

The duo were allegedly forced the victim to work 15-hour shifts, seven days a week. The man had slept in a storage room, bathed in a mop bucket, and was never paid.

Alongside human trafficking charges, Manns face multiple penal code violations, including wage theft, conspiracy, witness intimidation, and failing to maintain workers compensation insurance in the case involving four victims.

The couple who own the liquor store and Gavilan Market also threatened the victim with deportation if he informed law enforcement of the misdemeanors.

The probe team estimates that the suspects may have stolen over $150,000 in wages from the victim and three other employees.

The Indian origin couple allegedly engaged in predatory recruitment of their staff from India and lured them with promises of travel and financial independence.

District Attorney Jeff Rosen said: ‘Slavery officially was abolished in 1865'.

‘Tragically, we are seeing examples of it in 2020. My office will prosecute anyone to the fullest extent of the law who practices this kind of criminal and inhumane exploitation'.

The probe on the case began when an ABC inspection discovered the victim at the liquor store earlier this year. The ABC contacted a man who appeared to be living in a small storage room in the back area of the store.

The probe tam has reached the conclusion that the man had reached the US from India in 2019. The duo took his money and passport and put him to work without pay or a key to leave the liquor store at night.