[WATCH: Sweetie Speaks! She’s not a Slave or a Thief! VIDEO]
But I digress…
The woman in question is from New York and lives in a 34-room, 30,000-square-foot mansion. Federal criminal charges have been filed against her after she was accused of keeping an illegal alien as her domestic servant in a ?forced labor situation.? She made the immigrant work in her home for 17-hour days, seven days a week, and forced her ‘servant’ to live in a closet for almost six years!
A tip received by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center forwarded to federal immigration agents last year, was investigated and the servant was removed from the 12-acre estate on the Mohawk River in Rexford, a hamlet 20 miles north of Albany.
Annie George, 39, and her now-deceased husband, Mathai Kolath George, hired an illegal immigrant, identified in legal documents as “V.M.,” from the Indian state of Kerala.
The immigrant was promised about $1,000 a month in wages to live in the family’s 34-room, 30,000-square-foot home, known as Llenroc mansion, which houses a helicopter pad, 15 fireplaces, marble flooring, 24-karat gold gilded ceilings and a glass elevator.
V.M. was tasked with taking care of the Georges’ four young children, along with performing household duties in the mansion located about 20 miles north of Albany.
Working 17-hour days, seven days a week, over the 67 months she was kept inside the George residence, V.M. averaged about 85 cents an hour.
Over the course of the 5 and a half years working for the George family, V.M. received only about $29,000.
The servant told federal agents that she received no personal or sick time while employed by the Georges, nor was she afforded any dental or medical treatment. She had to sleep in a closet in a bedroom shared by the family?s three daughters, the complaint alleges, because ?Annie George required that V.M. be near the children at night.?
Their investigation determined that the woman was ?lawfully entitled? to a minimum of ?approximately $206,000 for the entire approximate six years of V.M.?s work.?
Annie George, whose husband died in a plane crash in 2009, reportedly called V.M.’s son three times, suggesting he “tell his mother to tell authorities that she was a relative of George’s family and was only staying at George’s house as a guest.”
However, V.M.’s son recorded the calls, which included a plea from Annie George, “If she says anything about working, it would become a big crime. They’ll start adding up all the taxes and everything, for all the time.”
Annie George appeared in court on Wednesday before a federal magistrate, facing charges of encouraging and inducing an illegal alien to reside in the U.S.
According to legal documents, the George estate has been put up for sale for a reported $30 million.
Are you shocked that slavery still exists in the United States?
