Edlind Sentenced on Witness Tampering Charges Related to Labor Trafficking Case

Harrisonburg, VIRGINIA – A local woman, who was found guilty in December 2015 by a jury of witness tampering and perjury charges in relation to the Inca’s Secret labor trafficking investigation, was sentenced yesterday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg, Acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle announced.

In December 2015, Carolyn J. Edlind, 69, of Harrisonburg, was convicted by jury trial of one count of conspiracy to witness tamper, one count of witness tampering, two counts of obstruction of justice, and one count of perjury. Following the trial, in response to the defendant’s motion, Judge Michael F. Urbanski overturned a portion of the jury’s verdict and dismissed one count of obstruction of justice and one count of perjury.

Yesterday in District Court, Edlind was sentenced to two years’ probation and six months’ home confinement. A co-conspirator in the case, Felix Adriano Chujoy, who was also convicted of similar charges during the same jury trial, has yet to have his sentencing hearing. At Chujoy’s request, the court has put off his sentencing hearing indefinitely.

According to information presented during trial by Assistant United States Attorney Heather L. Carlton, Edlind and Chujoy facilitated in-person meetings between a government witness with information about employees of Inca’s Secret, a restaurant in Harrisonburg being investigated for labor trafficking. Evidence presented at trial proved that the purpose of those meetings was to persuade the witness to change his expected trial testimony.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Department of Homeland Security. Assistant United States Attorney Heather L. Carlton prosecuted the case for the United States.