A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia has indicted three Cartersville, Georgia, residents on charges of forced labor, conspiracy to commit forced labor, and alien harboring.
The indictment names Zhu Chen, 60, and Jiayi Chen, 31, both U.S. citizens, alongside Jianjun Lu, 55, a Chinese national. According to court documents, the three individuals recruited Chinese nationals under false pretenses to travel to the United States on B-1 and L-1 visas to work at Wellmade Industries, a local flooring manufacturing plant.
Prosecutors state that once the workers arrived in the United States, the defendants confiscated their immigration documents and subjected them to 12-hour work shifts, six days a week.
The victims were allegedly paid less than the wages originally promised, received no overtime pay or health benefits, and were housed in properties owned by the manufacturing company despite lacking legal status under their visas.
The court filing further alleges that the defendants maintained control over the workers through verbal, psychological, and physical abuse, while using threats of deportation and severe financial debt to ensure compliance.
All three defendants face charges of forced labor and conspiracy to commit forced labor, with Zhu Chen facing an additional charge of alien harboring. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The charges were announced by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg for the Northern District of Georgia, and Special Agent in Charge Steven N. Schrank of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Atlanta.
The ongoing investigation is being conducted jointly by HSI Dalton, the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Trial Attorney Elizabeth Hutson of the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Leanne Marek are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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