A Vashon Island resident and owner of a landscape company, Brothers Landscaping, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for 21 federal felonies related to human trafficking and forced labor., Jesus Ruiz-Hernandez — also known as Christo Jesus Escobar Solares — created a business model built on “enticing vulnerable people” from Mexico primarily to work at his company, only to later force them to work for him for little to no money.
Using smugglers he hired, Ruiz-Hernandez would bring the undocumented victims to the U.S. and force them to work for his company on Vashon Island. The victims faced “exorbitant fees” for rent, food and other expenses, according to court documents. “The crimes committed here will leave a scar on the victims and the entire community that Ruiz-Hernandez conned into believing that he lawfully supported, that he was pursuing the American dream,” Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security operations in the Pacific Northwest, said in a prepared statement. “He was in fact subjecting would-be workers into a life of subjugation.
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