Nanny enslaved in Katy wins freedom, pay
Observant neighbors worked with officials to gain trust, expose crimes by married pair
An unidentified Katy woman forced to work without pay as nanny to five children has received a big check to cover two years of missing wages, officials said Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Patrick heralded the case, at a news conference Wednesday in Houston, as an unprecedented example of a victory for victims facilitated by keenly observant neighbors in a cul-de-sac in Cinco Ranch who called a tip to a human trafficking task force and were coached by experts about earning the woman’s trust.
“It took them many months to be able to get that trust and speak with her openly, and ultimately it was the neighbors that hatched the plan to get her out of the neighborhood, get her out of the house,” Patrick said.
“This is what modern slavery looks like,” the top federal prosecutor in Houston said.
$121,000 in salary to be paid
The couple who helped the woman travel to the U.S. from their native Nigeria — Sandra Nsobundu, 50, and Chudy Nsobundu, 58 — were sentenced in January to seven months in federal prison. The wife previously admitted she had aided and abetted in creating documents that enabled the forced labor and her husband pleaded guilty to visa fraud. U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas determined the Nsobundus owed the domestic worker $121,000 in compensation. “We believe the case is the first of its kind in the entire country,” said Patrick, noting authorities not only prosecuted the crime but were able to make the victim whole.
Patrick lauded the efforts of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance, a coalition of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and community organizations founded in 2004, for making Houston a hub for human trafficking prosecution and taking care to help victims recover physically and economically from these predatory crimes.
The U.S. State Department sent officials to interview the woman’s family members in her hometown. A Houston police officer who was fluent in Igbo helped with the inquiry locally. The YMCA assisted the victim with counseling, helped with medical care for a poorly healed arm she had broken in Nigeria and discussed employment options. The victim earned protected status because of the trafficking case and is on the path to becoming a citizen, according to Jeff Watkins, vice president of global initiatives at the YMCA.
Two years of abuse, neglect
The victim in this case worked in the couple’s Katy home as a maid and nanny between September 2013 and October 2015.
Court records indicate the couple admitted they kept the nanny’s passport and threatened harm if she did not cook, clean and tend to their five children. The victim told investigators she was forced to sleep on the floor, bathe in cold water, eat leftovers and work nearly 20hour shifts seven days a week from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. She could not take breaks, sit down or watch TV. She could not use the telephone, see a doctor for a poorly healed arm, attend church regularly or walk beyond the immediate neighborhood with the young children.
According to court documents, defendants also subjected her to physical and emotional abuse. They called her “the idiot” and hit and slapped her in the neck, arms and back on a weekly basis until the situation came to the attention of federal investigators, thanks to a concerned neighbor.
Patrick encouraged anyone with possible information about any such case to contact the National Human Trafficking hotline at 888-373-7888, citing the motto, “If you see something, say something.”