Thread: Couple Accused Of Lying To Keep Illegal Maid (updated)

Javier, Cristina Arce Face Federal Charges
By Andy Alcock/WLKY
POSTED: 4:24 pm EDT June 24, 2011
UPDATED: 6:22 pm EDT June 25, 2011


ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. -- An Elizabethtown cardiologist and his ex-wife face a three-count federal indictment accusing them of bringing a Bolivian woman into the U.S. to be their maid.

Dr. Javier Arce and his ex-wife, Cristina Arce, were arraigned in federal court Thursday and are free on bond.

According to the indictment, the couple brought the woman from Bolivia to their home on Freeman Lake Road in Elizabethtown in 1994.

Court records stated the unnamed woman was responsible for caring for the couple's children, cleaning their home, preparing meals and other domestic duties.

Additionally, she was directed to clean Javier Arce's medical office weekly.

When the couple divorced, court records state the woman then cleaned Javier Arce's Elizabethtown home on Stonemill Drive.

The indictment also said the Arces promised the woman a monthly salary, but paid her only about $20,000 over 12 years of service.

Court records said the couple falsely told the woman her salary was being deposited in a separate bank account they maintained for her.

The indictment said Cristina Arce had control of the woman's passport and refused to return it to her, claiming it had been lost.

The indictment also stated the Arces coerced the woman into staying in their service by telling her she would be arrested and deported if she left their home.

The charges against the Arces include conspiracy to harbor for financial gain and two counts of harboring an alien for financial gain.

If convicted, they face the possibility of prison time and forfeiture of their homes.

WLKY did speak to Cristina Arce at her front door Friday, but she declined comment.

Read more: http://www.wlky.com/news/28349788/detai ... z1QKXC0IGj

They probably had the bucks to pay fair wages to a citizen, but chose to go the cheap route and ended up getting screwed. Serves them right.

11:05 AM, Dec 4, 2012

Written by
Andrew Wolfson
The Courier-Journal

An Elizabethtown cardiologist and his ex-wife have pleaded guilty to harboring their maid, a Bolivian undocumented worker, for 15 years as a virtual prisoner and using her for their financial gain.

Dr. Javier Arce, 59, pleaded guilty Monday to failing to report knowledge of a felony to the proper authorities and his former wife, Cristina Mier Arce, 56, of Hardin County, to harboring for financial gain.

Her indictment alleged that the defendants recruited an undocumented Bolivian woman to work as their domestic servant and harbored her unlawfully from 1994 to 2006.

U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II sentenced both defendants Monday to two years’ probation and ordered them to pay the victim restitution for back wages totaling $100,000.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and prosecuted jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Judd and Trial Attorney Daniel Weiss of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

According to court papers, the pair allegedly falsely told the woman, identified only as “I.L.,” that they were depositing money in a bank account in her name when they knew no such account existed.

They allegedly paid her no more than $20,000 over 12 years as she cared for their children, made their meals and cleaned their home and Dr. Arce's medical office.

The indictment also charged that Cristina Arce refused to return the woman's passport, falsely telling her it was lost.

According to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure's website, Arce is licensed and in good standing. He was initially licensed in Kentucky since 1987 and graduated from a medical school in Bolivia.

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