Three individuals connected to a labor trafficking and human smuggling operation that exploited migrant workers on farms in South Georgia have been sentenced to federal prison. The sentences are a result of a multi-year investigation dating back to 2018.
The Scheme
The investigation uncovered a network – Patricio TCO – that profited from the labor of vulnerable workers while concealing the proceeds through financial transactions and fraudulent documentation.
Court documents say that the conspirators and their associates “engaged in mail fraud, international forced labor trafficking, and money laundering, among other crimes,” fraudulently using the H-2A work visa program to transport foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras into the United States under the pretext of serving as agricultural workers. The acts, court records indicate, go back to at least 2015.
The farms were located in Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs, and Ware counties, but activities ranged across Georgia, with travel through Florida, Texas, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and other locations.
The conspirators required the workers to pay unlawful fees for transportation, food, and housing while illegally withholding their travel and identification documents and subjected the workers “to perform physically demanding work for little or no pay, housing them in crowded, unsanitary, and degrading living conditions, and by threatening them with deportation and violence.”
The conspirators are alleged to have reaped more than $200 million from the illegal scheme, laundering the funds through cash purchases of land, homes, vehicles, and businesses; through cash purchases of cashier’s checks, and by funneling millions of dollars through a casino.
Upwards of $13 million was funneled into casinos between 2015 and 2020 and more than $23 million in casino winnings were obtained. Profits were used to purchase vehicles from dealerships across southeast Georgia as well as the OK Corral in Alma.
Among the acts alleged in the indictment:
- From November 2014 to April 15, three victims were forced to dig up onions with their bare hands and were paid $0.20 per bucket filled with onions. They were threatened with a gun to keep them in line.
- Two defendants raped, kidnapped, and tried to kill one of the victims
- Between July 12 2018 and July 18, 2019, two defendants sold approximately 30 workers to a conspirator in Indiana
- Several defendants repeatedly placed workers in the fields harvesting crops but did not pay them as required by H-2A program rules.
- In 2019, two defendants traded one victim. The victim later died of a heat stroke while working.
- In 2020, two defendants kidnapped and threatened to kill four victims and harm their families in Mexico.
- In 2020, six victims were used to complete lawn care, construction, and repair work without pay. They had to live in a single room trailer with dozens of other workers with little to no food, limited plumbing, and without safe drinking water.
- In September 2020, another victim died when cleaning a Patricio TCO labor camp that did not have air conditioning.
- In April and May 2021, 9 victims were forced to sleep in cramped, single room trailers with little to no food and with a worker contagious with measles.
- In April 2021, 12 workers were forced to live in trailers with raw sewage leaking and were detained in a work camp surrounded by an electric fence.
Sentencing of 3 Defendants
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Wood imposed prison sentences on three defendants who played varying roles in the scheme:
Margarita Rojas Cardenas, also known as “Maggie Cardenas,” 48, of Reidsville, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $20,838.94 in restitution after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors said Cardenas played a financial role in the operation by handling proceeds generated through the exploitation of workers.
Nery Rene Carrillo-Najarro, 45, a Guatemalan national residing in Lyons, was sentenced to 24 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit document fraud. According to court records, Carrillo-Najarro participated in efforts to provide fraudulent documentation connected to the trafficking operation.
Brett Donavan Bussey, 34, of Douglas, received a 15-month federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Federal authorities said Bussey assisted in laundering funds connected to the operation.
Officials said in a press release that the investigation was one of the most significant labor trafficking cases prosecuted in Georgia in recent years. The sentencings of Cardenas, Bussey, and Carrillo-Najarro bring the case against the original 24 defendants to a close. The total restitution across defendants reached more than $1.3 million.
Other Defendants According to the Indictment
- Maria Leticia Patricio – US citizen who filed fraudulent petitions to bring foreign workers to US under H-2A program
- Daniel Mendoza (son of Maria Patricio)- US citizen who filed fraudulent petitions to bring foreign workers to US under H-2A program
- Nery Rene Carrillo-Najarro – naturalized US citizen who contracted with farmers to find/recruit foreign workers to enter US under H-2A program.
- Also supervised workers in the field and unlawfully held their identification documents to prevent them from leaving.
- Antonio Chavez Ramos (aka Tony Chavez) – Illegal alien who supervised and managed foreign workers who entered US under H-2A program
- JC Longoria Castro – US citizen who recruited foreign workers
- also supervised and managed foreign workers.
- Unlawfully traded or sold foreign workers with Tony Chavez
- Victoriano Chavez Hernandez – Mexican citizen who entered US under H-2A visa.
- Recruited, supervised, and managed foreign workers.
- Related to Tony Chavez
- Enrique Duque Tovar – US citizen who supervised/managed foreign workers.
- Unlawfully held the IDs/documents of foreign workers to prevent them from leaving and threatened them with violence
- Jose Carmen Duque Tovar – Lawful permanent resident of US who recruited, supervised, and managed foreign workers.
- Unlawfully held ID documents to prevent workers from leaving.
- Related to Enrique Duque Tovar
- Charles Michael King – US citizen, owner of Kings Berry Farms, registered agent of Hilltop Packing LLC.
- used foreign workers who entered US under H-2A program.
- Associate of Stanley Neal McGauley
- Stanley Neal McGauley – Owner of Hilltop Packing, LLC who contracted with farmers to help find/recruit foreign workers under H-2A program
- Luis Alberto Martinez (aka Chino Martinez) – US citizen who contracted with farmers to recruit foreign workers under H-2A program
- Unlawfully traded/sold foreign workers to other members of Patricio TCO
- Related to Delia Ibarra Rojas
- Delia Ibarra Rojas – Lawful permanent resident and head of Rojas family.
- Laundered money for Patricio TCO by smuggling cash across border and funneling millions of dollars through casinos
- Juana Ibarra Carrillo – US citizen who recruited foreign workers.
- Laundered money for Patricio TCO by smuggling cash across border and funneling millions of dollars through casinos
- Assisted Brett Donavan Bussey in filing fraudulent petitions to bring foreign workers under H-2A program
- Donna Michelle Rojas (aka Donna Lucio) – US citizen who recruited foreign workers and unlawfully held their ID documents after they entered the US.
- Laundered money for Patricio TCO by smuggling cash across border and funneling cash through casinos.
- Assisted Brett Donavan Bussey in filing fraudulent petitions to bring foreign workers under H-2A program
- Daughter of Delia Ibarra Rojas
- Margarita Rojas Cardenas (aka Maggie Cardenas) – US citizen who recruited foreign workers and unlawfully held their ID documents to prevent them from leaving.
- Smuggled money across border and funneled through casinos
- Assisted Brett Donavan Bussey in filing fraudulent petitions to bring foreign workers under H-2A program
- Daughter of Delia Ibarra Rojas
- Juan Francisco Campos – illegal alien who supervised/managed foreign workers under H-2A program
- Associate of Rojas family and Brett Bussey
- Rosalva Garcia Martinez (aka Chava Garcia) – US citizen who contracted with farmers to recruit foreign workers
- Niece of Delia Ibarra Rojas
- Esther Ibarra Garcia – US citizen who worked with Rojas family to complete fraudulent petitions
- Mother of Rosalva Garcia Martinez/Chava Garcia
- Rodolfo Martinez Maciel – Illegal alien who supervised foreign workers.
- Associate of Rojas family
- Brett Donavan Bussey – US citizen who filed fraudulent petitions to bring foreign workers to the US under H-2A program.
- Associate of Rojas family
- Linda Jean Facundo – US citizen who assisted Brett Bussey in filing petitions.
- Gumara Canela – US citizen who contracted with farmers to recruit foreign workers. Also supervised those workers and unlawfully held their documentation.
- Daniel Merari Canela Diaz – Illegal alien who supervised and transported foreign workers who entered US under H-2A program.
- Carla Yvonne Salinas – US citizen who recruited and transported foreign workers who entered US under H-2A program
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, the FBI, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and several state and local law enforcement agencies.
If you believe you have information about a potential trafficking situation, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. Anti-Trafficking Hotline Advocates are available 24/7 to take reports of potential human trafficking. All reports are confidential, and you may remain anonymous. Interpreters are available. The information you provide will be reviewed by the National Hotline and forwarded to specialized law enforcement and/or service providers where appropriate.
