RICHMOND, Va. -- The Department of Justice says that two Virginians who forced a relative to work in their family run convenience store for more than three years were sentenced.
Harmanpreet Singh, 31, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison while Kulbir Kaur, 43, was sentenced to three months in prison.
“The defendants exploited their relationship with the victim to lure him to the United States with false promises that they would help enroll him in school, and then subjected him to physical and mental abuse to keep him working for their own profit,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Following a two-week trial in January, a federal jury in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted Singh and Kaur of conspiracy to commit forced labor, harboring for financial gain, and document servitude.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that in 2018 the defendants enticed the victim, Singh's cousin and then a minor, to travel to the U.S. from India with false promises of helping enroll him in school.
However, after arriving in the U.S. investigators say the defendants took the victim's immigration documents and instead forced him to provide labor and services at the store from March 2018 to May 2021.
Prosecutors at trial presented evidence that Singh and Kaur forced the victim to work at the store, cleaning, cooking, stocking, running the cash register, and upkeeping store records. The victim would work between 12 and 17 hours a day, nearly every day, according to investigators.
“The defendants lured the victim to travel from India to Virginia to work at their gas station where they exploited him for over three years,” said Assistant Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “The FBI will continue to work in all communities to stop forced labor trafficking and the psychological and physical violence that comes with it.”
More evidence also showed that the defendants would leave the victim in the store to sleep in a back office for days at a time, limiting his access to food, refusing to provide medical care or education, used surveillance equipment to monitor the victim, and refused his requests to return to India and made him overstay his visa.
“The crimes committed by these defendants are not merely violations of the law; they are an afront to humanity,” said U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia. “These defendants preyed on the victim’s earnest desire to attain an education and improve his life. Instead, they deprived him of the most basic human needs and robbed him of his freedom. We remain steadfastly committed to securing justice for victims of human trafficking.”
Investigators also add that, "evidence showed that Singh pulled the victim’s hair, slapped and kicked him when he requested his immigration documents back and tried to leave and, on three different occasions, threatened the victim with a revolver for trying to take a day off and for trying to leave."
Anyone with information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. That number is available 24/7.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
