Forbidden Freedom: Slavery in Southwest Florida

Members of an Immokalee family were in federal court Friday to deny charges that they harbored and helped 15 illegal aliens stay in Immokalee on their property, including some who were kept in a box truck. During the investigation, at least one of the illegal aliens told authorities the suspects charged the men fees for what they needed, such as $5 to take a shower with a garden hose.
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Late Tuesday, the Knights of Columbus and the Council of Catholic Women gathered together at San Marco Catholic Church to find out how to prevent and recognize warning signs of the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, human trafficking. Full story »

A bus pulled into Immokalee yesterday afternoon, but instead of sweat-drenched farm workers, an impeccably dressed team of international representatives stepped out into the sweltering afternoon heat. These political movers and shakers stood inside Immokalee trailers and watched the workers translate the weight of a bucket of tomatoes into minimal salaries.
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A Lee County man has entered a not guilty plea to charges he raped a Guatemalan teen four times while she allegedly was held in sexual and domestic servitude. Mario Pascual, 23, of North Fort Myers, was charged earlier this month with four counts of lewd sexual battery after federal and local investigators said Pascual raped a teenage girl who is at the heart of Lee County's sole surviving human trafficking case in federal court. Full story »

A man planning on a transfer for deportation hearings learned Friday that he first must spend another month in jail in what started as a human smuggling case, but turned into an undocumented worker caught driving down the interstate. Full story »

Common goals brought them together: Find more human trafficking victims. Rescue more lives. The first state human trafficking task force meeting brought more than 60 law enforcers, social service providers and victim advocates to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office training room Thursday in Fort Myers.
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The most definitive document on human trafficking ever produced by the United States government sums up Guatemala in four paragraphs. Believed to be a primary source of trafficking victims in Lee County, the country is making progress in addressing the crime, but not enough to put it entirely in America's good graces, according to the U.S. Department of State's 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report. The report was released Monday. Full story »

Better you than us. That's what migrant educators from Southwest Florida heard when they delivered public service announcements warning about human trafficking to rural Guatemala last month. Brigita Gahr and Genelle Grant encouraged leaders in remote Huehuetenango — where two Southwest Florida human trafficking victims once lived — to air the messages on community radio stations. Full story »

A Mexican man linked to a human trafficking case involving two young Mexican females didn’t know the pair could be forced into sex slavery when he brought them from Arizona to Fort Myers, federal officials said.
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Radio ads in several languages and dialects are airing across Florida warning about the dangers of modern-day slavery. High-profile examples of the crime have brought documentaries and movie-makers to the state. Heads of local social service agencies recall the victims they’ve found, and saved, in just a year’s time.
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Roll out the red carpet. Hollywood is coming to Lee County. The Coalition Against Human Trafficking in Southwest Florida on Tuesday announced the premiere of a Hallmark documentary about the crime of human trafficking will debut in Estero in September. Full story »

A Lee County man asked for forgiveness Thursday, but a federal judge said he broke American laws and must take responsibility for repeated rapes a young girl suffered in his home from two other men.
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A federal probe into human trafficking that netted three Guatemalan immigrants and reportedly rescued a young girl from sexual slavery has added rape charges by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office against another Lee County man. Mario Pascual, 23, of North Fort Myers, has been held in the Lee and Hendry county jails since his detainment last spring.
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Florida farmworkers and foreign laborers will be better protected under a pair of measures lawmakers approved Wednesday to boost penalties for human traffickers and require seat belts in vans carrying workers to the fields. With no debate, lawmakers sent the pair of bills to Gov. Jeb Bush.
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The Florida Senate on Thursday passed a measure bolstering penalties for those who, through intimidation and coercion, force foreign laborers into servitude under what critics say is nothing short of modern-day slavery.
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