Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, MAY 4, 2004
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
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(202) 514-2008
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FLORIDA MAN SENTENCED ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING-RELATED CHARGES


WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Department of Justice today announced the sentencing of a Florida man previously convicted on human trafficking-related charges. Juan Ramos was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiring to hold workers in involuntary servitude and harboring undocumented workers.

U. S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore sentenced Ramos to 15 years in prison and fined him $20,000. Earlier, on March 1, 2004, his brother, co-defendant Ramiro Ramos, was also sentenced to 15 years in prison, and fined $20,000. Additionally, both brothers were ordered to forfeit their claims to property valued at over $3 million.

The Ramos brothers were Florida labor contractors who supplied migrant farm laborers to citrus growers. Undocumented Mexican citizens were transported to Florida to work for the Ramos brothers. Once in Florida, they were forced to work until they had paid off their transportation debt. The defendants threatened the workers with violence if they left prematurely, and brutally beat a van driver and several of his employees to prevent them from taking workers away from the area.

“No one should suffer the fear and indignity of involuntary servitude,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “This crime, which employs threats and violence to force individuals into unwilling labor, assaults the very core of human dignity. We are gratified that the court imposed a sentence fitting the gravity of the defendants’ actions.”

On June 28, 2002, following a four week trial, a jury found the brothers guilty of conspiring to hold workers in involuntary servitude and of harboring undocumented workers. The jury also determined that real and personal property valued at over $3 million was subject to forfeiture because it was used in furtherance of the conspiracy or was obtained as a result of the criminal enterprise.

The Bush administration has made fighting human trafficking a significant priority. Since FY 2001, the Justice Department has charged 140 human traffickers - a three-fold increase over the previous three years, and secured convictions of 92 defendants - nearly twice the number convicted during the previous three years. Over the same period, the Department has initiated 283 new trafficking investigations, nearly triple the number opened in the previous three years. As of April 30, 2004, the 152 pending trafficking investigations were more than twice the number open in January 2001.

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