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An Indian national has been sentenced in the US to 57 months in prison over charges of trafficking and slavery and has been asked to pay over $40,000 in restitution to seven people. According to news agency PTI, the convict, Shreesh Tiwari is a 71-year-old Indian national and legal US permanent resident who started managing the Budgetel Motel in Cartersville, Georgia, in 2020. He hired a woman to work as a maid at the motel and gave her a room to stay.
According to the Department of Justice, the convict was aware of the victim’s past regarding homelessness, heroin addiction and her losing the custody of her child. He promised the victim that he would help her regain the custody of her child by providing her with pay, an apartment and an attorney. However, instead of fulfilling his promise, he monitored her interactions with motel guests and employees. He forbade her from speaking to them and also discouraged her from talking to her family and friends by saying that they did not care for her, as reported by PTI.
He made sexual overtures to the victim and threatened to evict her from the room provided, said prosecutors, as reported by PTI. Tiwari also threatened to report the victim’s drug use to law enforcement or child welfare agencies.
He then began to regularly ‘evict’ her from the motel room and even locked her out of her room at night without any prior warnings.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, “Human trafficking can occur anywhere since traffickers are adept at identifying someone’s vulnerabilities and often fraudulently extend hope to someone looking for an opportunity to improve their dire circumstances,” PTI reported.
“Tiwari used his position of power to ruthlessly abuse a victim he knew had already suffered immeasurably,” said US Attorney Ryan K Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. He added, “The level of this defendant’s callousness is shocking. But we are thankful that our community is now safer, and other potential victims spared… Our office also intends for Tiwari’s prosecution and sentence to provide a stark warning to other traffickers,” as reported by PTI.
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