Thread: Three charged in hair salon human trafficking ring

Three charged in hair salon human trafficking ring
by Brian Donohue
Thursday September 06, 2007, 8:50 PM


Ashleys Hair Braiding Salon in East Orange where the suspects Lassissi Afolabi and Akouavi Kpade Afolabi employed the illegal women from Togo.

Federal agents today arrested two men and a woman from Togo who they say smuggled at least 20 girls and young women from the West African nation and forced them into indentured servitude, working without pay at hair braiding salons in Newark and East Orange.

"This is a case of modern-day slavery," said Tom Manifase, deputy special agent in charge of investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Newark, the lead agency in the investigation. "These women were promised a better life in the U.S. but instead ended up becoming victims of human trafficking."
William Perlman/The Star-LedgerAshleys Hair Braiding Salon in East Orange where the suspects Lassissi Afolabi and Akouavi Kpade Afolabi employed the illegal women from Togo.

The three suspects, Lassissi Afolabi, 44, his wife, Akouavi Kpade Afolabi, 39, of East Orange and a relative, Dereck Hounakey, 30, of Newark were arrested at their homes early this morning, authorities said.

All three are charged with harboring illegal aliens, which carries a maximum penalty of between three and 10 years in prison. Additionally, Mrs. Afolabi is charged with smuggling illegal aliens for financial gain, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.

At an appearance in U.S. District Court in Newark, the three were ordered held until a bail hearing Friday. All three suspects are Togonese nationals who came to the United States on visas.

Hounakey is listed as the owner of Newark Hair Braiding on 18th Avenue in Newark while Afolabi owns Ashleys Hair Braiding on Central Avenue in East Orange, both businesses where ICE officials said the smuggled women were forced to work.

The women lived in crowded apartments rented by the alleged ringleaders in Newark and East Orange, sleeping 8-10 to an apartment and sleeping on tattered mattresses on the floor, Manifase said. Victims told investigators their travel documents were taken from them and they were threatened with return to Africa if they objected to working without pay, authorities said.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/0 ... affic.html

Wow...they actually are using the " harboring a criminal"....
that is what the pastor and his wife should have been arrested for in that Elvira fiasco......

Jul 12, 8:10 PM EDT

Togo man gets 24 years in NJ forced-labor case

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A man from the impoverished West African nation Togo has been sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for his role in the smuggling of girls and women who were forced to work at New Jersey hair braiding salons.

At sentencing Monday in federal court in Newark, Lassissi Afolabi also was ordered to pay more than $3.9 million in restitution to the victims.

The 47-year-old pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with his ex-wife and her son to commit forced labor.

His ex-wife is due to be sentenced in September. Her son has been sentenced to 55 months in prison.

Prosecutors say between October 2002 and September 2007 fraudulent visas were used to bring at least 20 girls and women from Togo. They say the victims worked for no pay.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... SECTION=US