Prosecutors Hope To Try Ex-Misnister Grace Coleman Next
A federal jury in Greenbelt yesterday convicted a Takoma Park couple of bringing a Ghanaian woman into the United States illegally and forcing her to work as a domestic servant and nanny seven days a week without pay.
After deliberating a little more than a day after a three- week trial, the jury in U.S. District Court convicted Barbara Coleman-Blackwell, 33, of forced labor, conspiracy, harboring an illegal alien for financial gain and hiding her victim's passport and visa. Coleman- Blackwell, an accountant, was acquitted of three charges stemming from allegations she encouraged the victim, Margaret Owusuwaah, 44, to come to the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.
The jury convicted Coleman-Blackwell's husband, Kenneth Blackwell, 37, of conspiracy and harboring an illegal alien for financial gain.
Blackwell, who does not have a job, was acquitted of encouraging Owusuwaah to come to the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.
The verdicts are believed to be the first convictions under laws Congress passed in 2000 to combat trafficking in immigrants for purposes of exploiting them as workers.
"Today's conviction is a reminder that the Justice Department is committed to prosecuting human trafficking and related crimes and to ensuring that those who engage in these crimes are firmly punished," said Ralph F. Boyd Jr , assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The defendants in this case cruelly exploited an innocent woman."
U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. scheduled sentencing for Coleman-Blackwell and Blackwell for Aug. 21. The charges of which Coleman-Blackwell was convicted carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison; Blackwell's, 10 years.
David Schertler, Blackwell's attorney, said the defense team and both defendants were "very disappointed with the verdict." "Frankly, we just do not believe there was sufficient evidence to support the verdict," he said.
Yesterday's verdicts marked the third time since 2000 that federal prosecutors have won convictions in the Greenbelt federal court in domestic slavery cases.
A Gaithersburg man who was convicted of keeping a Brazilian woman as a live-in domestic slave for 20 years was sentenced in August 2000 to 61/2 years in prison. In March 2002, a Silver Spring couple was sentenced to nine years in prison for enslaving a Cameroon teenager for three years.
In the Takoma Park case, federal prosecutors said they hope to try a third codefendant, Coleman-Blackwell's mother, Grace Coleman (pictured).
Coleman, a member of Ghana's Parliament, is charged with arranging to bring Owusuwaah, her cousin from a poor village, to the United States under false pretenses. Coleman also is charged with forced labor. Federal officials have filed papers seeking her extradition.
Owusuwaah testified that she was abused from February 2000, when she came to the United States, until July 2001, when she ran away.
At times fighting tears, Owusuwaah testified that she worked seven days a week, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, raking leaves and caring for Coleman- Blackwell and Blackwell's young daughter, without being paid for her work.
She testified that Coleman-Blackwell arranged for her to baby-sit for the children of five friends and that Coleman-Blackwell kept almost all the money the friends paid for Owusuwaah's services.
Coleman-Blackwell testified that she did not abuse Owusuwaah, whom she called "Auntie." Coleman- Blackwell testified that Owusuwaah was not a servant but a visiting family member who volunteered to help with chores.
Seth Rosenthal, a trial attorney with the Justice Department's civil rights division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daphene McFerren scoffed at that scenario in their closing statements. "Because she was a family member, they thought they could get away with treating her like a servant," Rosenthal said.
