Ex-Minister's Daughter Gets 5 Years For Enslavement

Takoma Park, Md. - A US federal judge yesterday sentenced the daughter of the former deputy finance minister Grace Coleman – to five years and three months in federal prison for bringing a Ghanaian woman into the United States illegally and forcing her to work as a nanny and domestic servant seven days a week without pay.

At a sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. told Barbara Coleman-Blackwell, 33, that the evidence at her trial last year showed that she lied on the witness stand when she testified that the victim was treated as a member of her family and not a servant.

"That just wasn't true. The jury found the testimony to be lies, not true," Williams said in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

Williams rejected an emotional plea for mercy by Coleman-Blackwell, who has been free since she was convicted in June. She asked that she be given "a day, a week, a month" to tell her 6-year-old daughter that she was going to prison. Williams ordered Coleman-Blackwell taken into custody immediately. Federal marshals handcuffed her and led her away.

After a two-week trial, a jury convicted Coleman-Blackwell of forced labor, conspiracy, harboring an illegal alien for financial gain and hiding her victim's passport and visa.

Coleman-Blackwell's husband, Kenneth Blackwell, 37, was convicted of conspiracy and harboring an illegal alien for financial gain.

Williams sentenced Kenneth Blackwell to six months of home detention and three years' probation. Williams said the evidence showed that Barbara Coleman-Blackwell was more culpable than Kenneth Blackwell in abusing the victim, Margaret Owusuwaah, 44.

The couple's convictions are believed to be the first under laws Congress passed in 2000 to combat trafficking in immigrants for the purposes of exploiting their labor.

"This conviction and sentencing is but one of the many cases that are part of the Justice Department's efforts to fight the moral scourges of human trafficking," said R. Alexander Acosta, assistant attorney general in the civil rights division of the Justice Department.

The Justice Department has increased prosecutions of human trafficking cases in recent years.

Since 2001, the department has opened 200 investigations into human trafficking and prosecuted more than 100 defendants, officials said. In 1999 and 2000, federal prosecutors opened about 80 such investigations and prosecuted 25 defendants, officials said.

Since 2000, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office has obtained convictions in five cases of illegal domestic servitude.

Owusuwaah testified that she was abused from February 2000, when she was brought to the United States, until July 2001, when she fled Coleman-Blackwell and Blackwell.

Coleman-Blackwell called Owusuwaah, who is a relative, "Auntie," according to court testimony.

Coleman-Blackwell's mother, Grace Coleman, a member of Ghana's Parliament, allegedly arranged for Owusuwaah to enter the United States under false pretenses. Coleman has been charged with forced labor, and U.S. officials have filed papers seeking her extradition.

In addition to their 6-year-old daughter, Coleman-Blackwell, an accountant, and her husband have a 2-year-old son. Her husband suffered serious injuries in a car accident and is unable to work, according to his attorneys.

Coleman-Blackwell came to the United States from her native Ghana as a teenager, obtained college degrees in this country and married Blackwell, a U.S. citizen. But Coleman-Blackwell never sought to become a U.S. citizen. She is a permanent legal resident.

Because she has been convicted of a federal felony, Coleman-Blackwell will be deported once she finishes serving her sentence, officials said.

Takoma Park, Md. - A US federal judge yesterday sentenced the daughter of the former deputy finance minister Grace Coleman – to five years and three months in federal prison for bringing a Ghanaian woman into the United States illegally and forcing her to work as a nanny and domestic servant seven days a week without pay.

At a sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. told Barbara Coleman-Blackwell, 33, that the evidence at her trial last year showed that she lied on the witness stand when she testified that the victim was treated as a member of her family and not a servant.

"That just wasn't true. The jury found the testimony to be lies, not true," Williams said in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

Williams rejected an emotional plea for mercy by Coleman-Blackwell, who has been free since she was convicted in June. She asked that she be given "a day, a week, a month" to tell her 6-year-old daughter that she was going to prison. Williams ordered Coleman-Blackwell taken into custody immediately. Federal marshals handcuffed her and led her away.

After a two-week trial, a jury convicted Coleman-Blackwell of forced labor, conspiracy, harboring an illegal alien for financial gain and hiding her victim's passport and visa.

Coleman-Blackwell's husband, Kenneth Blackwell, 37, was convicted of conspiracy and harboring an illegal alien for financial gain.

Williams sentenced Kenneth Blackwell to six months of home detention and three years' probation. Williams said the evidence showed that Barbara Coleman-Blackwell was more culpable than Kenneth Blackwell in abusing the victim, Margaret Owusuwaah, 44.

The couple's convictions are believed to be the first under laws Congress passed in 2000 to combat trafficking in immigrants for the purposes of exploiting their labor.

"This conviction and sentencing is but one of the many cases that are part of the Justice Department's efforts to fight the moral scourges of human trafficking," said R. Alexander Acosta, assistant attorney general in the civil rights division of the Justice Department.

The Justice Department has increased prosecutions of human trafficking cases in recent years.

Since 2001, the department has opened 200 investigations into human trafficking and prosecuted more than 100 defendants, officials said. In 1999 and 2000, federal prosecutors opened about 80 such investigations and prosecuted 25 defendants, officials said.

Since 2000, the Maryland U.S. attorney's office has obtained convictions in five cases of illegal domestic servitude.

Owusuwaah testified that she was abused from February 2000, when she was brought to the United States, until July 2001, when she fled Coleman-Blackwell and Blackwell.

Coleman-Blackwell called Owusuwaah, who is a relative, "Auntie," according to court testimony.

Coleman-Blackwell's mother, Grace Coleman, a member of Ghana's Parliament, allegedly arranged for Owusuwaah to enter the United States under false pretenses. Coleman has been charged with forced labor, and U.S. officials have filed papers seeking her extradition.

In addition to their 6-year-old daughter, Coleman-Blackwell, an accountant, and her husband have a 2-year-old son. Her husband suffered serious injuries in a car accident and is unable to work, according to his attorneys.

Coleman-Blackwell came to the United States from her native Ghana as a teenager, obtained college degrees in this country and married Blackwell, a U.S. citizen. But Coleman-Blackwell never sought to become a U.S. citizen. She is a permanent legal resident.

Because she has been convicted of a federal felony, Coleman-Blackwell will be deported once she finishes serving her sentence, officials said.