FORT WORTH, Texas – Modern day slavery in America? Apparently so. A suburban Fort Worth couple has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison each for enslaving a Guinean woman for 16 years, FOX News reported.
A federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, sentenced Mohamed Touré and Denise Cros-Touré each to two seven-year terms and one five-year term. The sentences will be served concurrently.
The 58-year-old couple of Southlake, Texas must also serve three years of supervised release upon completion of their prison terms and pay their victim $288,000 in restitution. Furthermore, they will be deported to Guinea in West Africa. The report did not indicate how the deportation at the conclusion of their prison term will impact the supervised release.
Scott Palmer, the attorney for Cros-Touré, said they are considering an appeal.
Trial evidence showed the Tourés brought the girl, then aged at least 5 years but possibly as old as 13, from her rural Guinean village in 2000. She was forced to work without pay in their home as a housekeeper, cook and nanny until she fled and alerted authorities.
The Tourés are the son and daughter-in-law of the late Guinean President Ahmed Sekou Touré. He was well known for helping lead Guinea to independence from French rule in 1958. Sekou Toure was the country’s first president, a role he held until his death in 1984.
The Tourés were convicted in January, and prosecutors had sought the full 20-year prison sentences allowed by law, according to FOX. However, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Conner tempered the sentence request.
“Forced labor trafficking cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute — in part because victims are often afraid to speak out,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. “It took tremendous courage for this young woman to share her story at trial.”
Nevertheless, Palmer said the judge’s decision to temper the sentence suggests the trial judge did not believe the pair were as evil as portrayed by prosecutors.
“I think he saw through the exaggerations and lies of the prosecution,” he said.
