Thread: WIS-Brookfield couple re-sentenced for enslaving maid

Brookfield couple re-sentenced for enslaving maid




June 9, 2009 5:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - A husband and wife from southeast Wisconsin have each been sentenced to six years in prison for forcing an illegal immigrant to be their maid for 19 years.

Jefferson N. Calimlim Sr. and his wife, Elnora, were initially sentenced in 2006 to 4-year prison terms each. The two doctors were re-sentenced Tuesday in Washington, D.C. after an appeals court found legal errors in the original sentencing.

The Calimlims were convicted of bringing the woman from the Philippines when she was 19 and forcing her to work in their Brookfield home under threat of violence.

During the original trial, the defense argued that the woman had agreed to the working conditions. They said she knew her situation here was better than the one she faced back home.


http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=10504949

Brookfield couple re-sentenced for enslaving maid
By Lisa Sink of the Journal Sentinel

Jun. 9, 2009 4:39 p.m. | A federal judge Tuesday increased the prison terms for a Brookfield couple convicted of harboring an illegal immigrant – a Filipino woman who they secreted in their home as a maid for 19 years.

Jefferson and Elnora Calimlim each must serve six years in prison – not four years as a judge originally sentenced in November 2006.

A federal appeals court ordered Chief U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa to resentence the couple, saying Randa erroneously rejected some prosecution arguments when he set the four-year terms.
The Calimlims each were convicted of harboring an illegal immigrant for financial gain, conspiracy to harbor an illegal immigrant, forced labor and attempted forced labor.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Interim U.S. Attorney Michelle Jacobs said, “Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery and is simply not acceptable.

“No person should ever be forced to live in fear, virual isolation and servitude,â€