| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Couple sentenced in U.S. for enslaving niece from Morocco |
| 2006-12-22 |
| A couple in the U.S. state of Washington has been sentenced to home confinement for forcing their immigrant niece to work long hours in their home and at the family espresso stand, and they also must pay her US$65,000 (about €50,000) for her labor. Abdenasser "Sammy" Ennassime, 47, and his wife Tonya, 41, of Lakewood, pleaded guilty in September to federal charges of forced labor and harboring an illegal alien, respectively. Under the plea agreement, government lawyers recommended home confinement, three years of probation and back wages. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess sentenced Sammy Ennassime to six months of home confinement and his wife to 90 days. In a letter to the court, Ennassime said he was stern with his niece — "maybe too stern" — but added, "She grew to be a responsible young woman and I was proud of her but I did not want her to become wild." The girl, Lamia Ennassime, 18, attended the sentencing hearing and had asked the judge not to impose prison time. She came from Morocco to stay with her aunt and uncle at age 12 in September 2001, with the understanding that she would help care for their young son and help with the housework in exchange for lodging and a chance for a good education. She made breakfast and dinner, did laundry, cleaned the house, and worked weekends and summers without pay at the espresso stand. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Doesn't really sound like "enslavement" to me, but I didn't even know this case existed. |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-12-22 01:55 |