OCTOBER 21, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
VIRGINIA B. EVANS
(410) 209-4885
GHANAIAN OFFICIAL AND TWO TAKOMA PARK RESIDENTS INDICTED IN CIVIL RIGHTS CASE
GREENBELT, MARYLAND – Thomas M. DiBiagio, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, and Ralph F. Boyd Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, announced today that on October 16, a federal grand jury indicted Grace Coleman, Barbara Coleman-Blackwell and Kenneth Blackwell for violating federal law by fraudulently bringing a Ghanaian national, Margaret Owusuwaah, into the United States and using her as an unpaid domestic servant in Kenneth and Barbara Blackwell's Takoma Park, Maryland home for a period of approximately 17 months. Grace Coleman, a national of Ghana and a high ranking Ghanaian government official, is the mother of Barbara Coleman-Blackwell. Barbara Coleman-Blackwell is a Ghanaian national and a permanent resident alien of the United States. Kenneth Blackwell, a United States citizen, is married to Barbara Coleman-Blackwell. At the time the events set forth in the Indictment are alleged to have occurred, Kenneth and Barbara Blackwell lived at 6313 Eastern Avenue in Takoma Park. The Seven Count Indictment charges Grace Coleman, Barbara Coleman-Blackwell and Kenneth Blackwell with conspiring to induce an illegal alien to come to the United States and harbor her, with harboring an illegal alien for financial gain, and with recruiting an illegal alien to come to and remain in the United States. It further charges Grace Coleman and Barbara Coleman-Blackwell with forced labor, confiscating Owusuwaah's passport and visa in connection with forced labor, making a false statement to U.S. officials, and visa fraud.
The Indictment alleges that in February 2000, Grace Coleman, with the complicity of Barbara-Coleman Blackwell, fraudulently obtained an American visa for Owusuwaah by knowingly submitting a visa application with false information and by making false representations to an official at the United States Embassy in Ghana. According to the Indictment, when Owusuwaah arrived in the United States in February 2000, Grace Coleman took Margaret Owusuwaah's passport, including her visa, and Barbara Coleman-Blackwell hid Owusuwaah's passport and visa in an effort to prevent Owusuwaah from leaving her Takoma Park home.
The Indictment also alleges that Grace Coleman, Barbara Coleman-Blackwell and Kenneth Blackwell conspired to harbor Owusuwaah at Kenneth Blackwell and Barbara Coleman-Blackwell's residence for the purpose of providing them with child care and other domestic services for little or no financial compensation. The Indictment further alleges that Grace Coleman, together with Barbara Coleman-Blackwell, obtained Owusuwaah's labor and services by threatening Owusuwaah with deportation to and imprisonment in Ghana.
The maximum penalties Grace Coleman and Barbara Coleman Blackwell face based on the charges in the Indictment are 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty Kenneth Blackwell faces is 10 years and a $250,000 fine. If found guilty of certain Counts of the Indictment, the defendants will be required to pay restitution to Owusuwaah.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
The criminal charges in this indictment are the result of a joint investigation by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, the United States Attorney's Office, and the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daphene R. McFerren and Trial Attorney Seth Rosenthal of the Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice.
