Pinoy couple sentenced to 18 months in jail for human smuggling

A Filipino man and his wife were sentenced to 18 months in Federal prison earlier this week after admitting that they smuggled immigrants from the Philippines and forcing them to work in the couple’s elder-care business in Paso Robles, California.  

Maximino “Max” Morales, 46, and his wife, Melinda Morales, 48, were also ordered to pay $600,000 in restitution to their nine Filipino victims, a report of the Asian Journal said on Wednesday.

 

In a statement, United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. said: “The Filipino victims in this case were lured to the United States with false promises and were essentially performing slave labor,” 

 

“We are committed to protecting the basic civil rights of all people, no matter their status in the United States,” Birotte said.

 

The Moraleses, naturalized US citizens from the Philippines, operated four elder-care facilities in Paso Robles, a small city in Central California. Asian Journal said Moraleses were arrested in 2010 and pleaded guilty last year to charges of conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants.

 

According to the US Attorney’s Office, the couple admitted to recruiting Filipino to come to the US with promises of work as live-in caregivers.

 

Working with a co-conspirator in the Philippines, they obtained phony travel visas for the Filipino victims.

 

The Asian Journal said when the victims arrived in the US, they worked as caregivers, at times in 24-hour shifts for less than minimum wage.

 

As live-in caregivers, some of them slept in a closet or on a sofa inside an unheated garage, the report said.

 

The FBI launched an investigation in 2009, after two Filipino victims confided their plight to a family member of one of the patients, who then notified the FBI, the report added. - VVP, GMA News