A Burlington County, New Jersey, couple was convicted Wednesday of forced labor and other federal crimes stemming from a coercive scheme to compel two victims to perform domestic labor and childcare in their home, federal officials said.
Bolaji Bolarinwa, 50, was found guilty of two counts of forced labor, one count of alien harboring for financial gain, and two counts of document servitude following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Karen M. Williams in Camden federal court.
Isiaka Bolarinwa, 67, was convicted of two counts of forced labor and one count of alien harboring for financial gain. Each was acquitted of a second count of alien harboring for financial gain.
According to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the couple engaged in a scheme from December 2015 to October 2016 that involved luring victims with false promises of a better life and education in the United States.
Instead, the victims were subjected to grueling hours, physical abuse, and psychological abuse.
“These defendants engaged in an egregious bait-and-switch, luring the victims with false promises of a life and an education in the United States, and instead subjected them to grueling hours, physical abuse, and psychological abuse,” Sellinger said. “Forced labor and human trafficking are abhorrent crimes that have no place in our society.”
Court documents and trial evidence revealed that the Bolarinwas, originally from Nigeria but living in New Jersey as U.S. citizens, coerced the victims to perform domestic labor and childcare services for their children through physical harm, threats, isolation, surveillance, and psychological abuse.
The victims were unlawfully present in the United States while working in the defendants’ sprawling 6,266 sq ft single family home at 2 Buttonwood Court, in Moorestown, New Jersey.
Bolaji Bolarinwa confiscated the first victim’s passport upon her arrival in the United States in December 2015 and coerced her to work every day, around-the-clock, for nearly a year. Isiaka Bolarinwa was aware of his wife’s abusive behavior toward the victim and directly benefited from her labor.
The defendants recruited a second victim, who arrived in April 2016 on a student visa, and subjected her to similar abuse, including physical harm. The victims lived and worked in the Bolarinwa home until October 2016, when one victim notified a college professor, who reported the information to the FBI.
Isiaka Bolarinwa, M.D., CASAC, received his Doctorate at the Universidad Central Del Este in San Pedro De Macoris, Dominican Republic and his psychiatry residency was completed at Cooper Hospital/UMDNJ in Camden, NJ. Dr. Bola is board certified in Adult and Child Psychiatry.
Dr. Bolarinwa has been practicing medicine since 1983, his experience includes Substance Abuse Counselor for The Salvation Army, Fellow in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Medical Director for CFG Health Systems.
Dr. Bolarinwa is fluent in English, Spanish and Yoruba.
Dr. Bolarinwa has been a Chairman of the Board of Trustees at South Jersey Behavioral Health Resources Center. He assists with psychiatry at Friends Hospital in Philadelphia and is the Associate Residency Training Director at UMDNJ/Atlantic City Medical Center’s Psychiatry Residency Training Program. Dr. Bolarinwa’s medical training includes being a Fellow in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and a Fellow in Child Psychiatry at the Medical College of Pennsylvania/Hahnemann Hospital.
“Human trafficking is a heinous crime, and this verdict should send the very clear message that the Justice Department will investigate and vigorously prosecute these cases to hold human traffickers accountable and bring justice to their victims,” Clarke said.
FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy commended the agents and victim specialists who worked on the case, urging victims or anyone with information about human trafficking to seek help from law enforcement.
The defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each forced labor count, up to 10 years for the alien harboring count, and Bolaji Bolarinwa faces a maximum of five years for each unlawful document conduct count. Mandatory restitution to the victims and fines of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss from the offense are also possible.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to the guilty verdict. He also thanked the Moorestown Township Police Department.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender for the District of New Jersey and Trial Attorney Elizabeth Hutson of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
Individuals with information about human trafficking are encouraged to report it to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or visit http://www.humantraffickinghotline.org. More information about the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at http://www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
Discover more from NJTODAY.NET
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.