The brothers, the Botsvnyuks, recruited workers abroad, mostly in Ukraine, under the promise of legitimate jobs in the U.S. Once the workers agreed to the job, the Botsvnyuks confiscated their passports and any other identification, smuggled them across Mexico's borders into the U.S. and forced them to work 16 hour days with no pay, under the threat of violence. Some of the female workers were raped by the eldest brother, others were beaten, and if they ran away, their families were threatened to be killed or put into sexual slavery in Ukraine.
It is estimated that about 30 victims were trafficked illegally into the country. Only eight of those victims have been identified and agreed to cooperate with enforcement officers to testify against the Botsvnyuks. Two of them are women, six are men. They will be allowed to stay in the country legally once the investigation comes to a close.
The operation went on for 7 years from 2000-2007 throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Washington D.C. Crews were ran out of a row home in the Port Richmond area of Philadelphia. The operation ran under the disguise of a cleaning business and changed names many times. The cleaning crews were put to work in night shifts at various businesses in the Philadelphia area, including Walmart, Target, K-Mart, and Safeway.
The investigation, directed by the FBI, Immigration and Customers Enforcement, state and local police, began in 2005 with a tip from overseas. The case took years to unravel because of language barriers, fear, and mistrust on the victims' parts towards the U.S. enforcement officers because of experiences with corrupt justice systems in their homelands.
Read the full story here : http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/97508149.html?cmpid=15585797
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