Suburban Chicago woman gets 6.5 years for labor trafficking
April 20, 2021 8:46AM AKDT
CHICAGO (AP) — A suburban Chicago woman has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to charges alleging she helped several people from Guatemala enter the U.S. illegally and forbid them from leaving her home until they paid off debts to her. Fifty-year-old Concepcion Malinek, of Cicero, was sentenced Tuesday after pleaded guilty last year to one count of labor trafficking. Prosecutors said that from 2009 to 2019, Malinek helped at least 10 Guatemalan immigrants enter the U.S. illegally and forced them to work in a factory to pay off their debts to her.