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Four accused in slave-labor trafficking ring on Ohio egg farm

By Amy R. Connolly

MARION, Ohio, July 3 (UPI) -- Four people were indicted Thursday in a slave-labor ring that smuggled Guatemalan teens and adults into the United States and forced them to live in squalid conditions while working at an Ohio egg farm.

Federal investigators said recruiters enlisted adults and teens in Guatemala, some as young as 14, on the promise of good jobs in the United States and a good education. The laborers were smuggled across the border to Marion, located about 50 miles north of Columbus, where they lived in dilapidated trailers. They were forced to work at a chicken farm where they spent 12 hours a day cleaning coops, debeaking chickens and loading and unloading crates of chickens. The indictment said the workers were threatened with bodily harm if they refused work.

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Aroldo Castillo-Serrano, 33 and Ana Angelica Pedro Juan, 21, both of Guatemala; Conrado Salgado Soto, 52, of Mexico; and Pablo Duran Jr., 23 are facing varied charges related to forced labor and immigration offenses, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Prosecutors said the victims were two men and eight children, and forced to work at Trillium Farms in Johnstown, Ohio. The first of the men was smuggled into the U.S. in 2011 and the teens in 2014.

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Trillium officials would not speak about specifics of the case, instead releasing a written statement:

"When federal officials made us aware of a possible employment issue with one of our contractors, we immediately cooperated and assisted in the investigation. That work led to the swift identification and same-day rescue of the employees believed to be working against their will. Our contract with the company was terminated by Trillium Farms, and the company is no longer working for us."

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