Couple ordered to pay enslaved nanny $121,000 after 2 years of work

A Texas couple who pleaded guilty to charges related to forcing a Nigerian woman to work as their nanny for two years without pay has been ordered to pay her more than $121,000 in restitution, a judge ruled Friday.

Chudy Nsobundu, 57, and his wife Sandra, 49, of Katy, were additionally sentenced to seven months in jail, seven months of home confinement and three years’ probation for the abuse, The Associated Press reported.

The victim, who has not been identified, told authorities that the couple recruited her from her home country with an agreement that she’d be paid $100 a month to work for them, according to a 2016 press release by The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

Instead, from September 2013 and October 2015, she said she was forced to work 19.5 hour days for the couple and their five children without pay or breaks. She was additionally subjected to physical and verbal abuse, strictly leftover food as her meals, and was denied a bed and warm showers.

To prevent her from leaving, she said her passport was taken and she was physically threatened.

A tip to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center led to the nanny’s liberation in October 2015, during which her paperwork for obtaining a proper U.S. work visa was found containing false information, authorities said.

In 2016, Sandra Nsobundu pleaded guilty to unlawful conduct with respect to documents in furtherance of forced labor, while her husband, Chudy Nsobundu, pleaded guilty to visa fraud.

Credit: huffingtonpost.com