WOMAN FOUND GUILTY OF CONSPIRACY, HARBORING
A DOMESTIC WORKER FOR FINANCIAL GAIN

WASHINGTON, D.C.- The Justice Department announced today that a jury in Greenbelt, Maryland convicted a Nigerian national of harboring a young girl from Nigeria for financial gain and for conspiring with her then-husband to hold the girl in involuntary servitude.

According to the evidence produced at the month-long trial, George Udeozor brought the girl to the United States illegally in 1996 at age 14. Once in the United States, the girl took care of the defendant’s children and performed all household chores without pay until October 2001.

“Harboring another human being for financial gain is morally reprehensible,” said Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta. “That modern day slavery persists is unconscionable and the Justice Department is committed to aggressively investigating and prosecuting those who would perpetrate these crimes.”

The defendant, Adaobi Stella Udeozor, 45, is a Germantown physician. The jury also convicted her of conspiracy but acquitted her of actually holding the girl in involuntary servitude. George Udeozor, charged with the same offenses, is a fugitive in Nigeria and did not stand trial.

Sentencing is scheduled to occur on February 4, 2005. Udeozor faces a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment, three years supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Udeozor could also be ordered to make restitution to the victim.

Since 2001, the Department of Justice has undertaken a significant effort to combat human trafficking. From FY 2001 through FY 2003, the Department charged 111 defendants in 32 human trafficking prosecutions, nearly triple the 43 defendants in 11 prosecutions brought over the prior three-year period. During FY 2004, the Department set new records for prosecuting human traffickers, bringing charges against 47 human trafficking defendants in 26 cases, as compared to five defendants in three cases in FY 2000.

This case was investigated by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by attorneys from the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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04-759