Fla. woman gets 7 years in Haitian slavery case
Seconds ago
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A former teacher was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison for forcing a Haitian girl to work as a slave for years, each day of the week, in her South Florida home.
Maude Paulin, 52, admitted she had made mistakes in bringing Simone Celestin to the U.S. and apologized for what happened, but insisted she wanted only good things for the girl.
"I love Simone with all my heart," Paulin told Senior U.S. District Judge Jose A. Gonzalez Jr. at a sentencing hearing. "I regret it. I blame myself."
Paulin's ex-husband, Saintfort Paulin, was sentenced to house arrest for a lesser role.
The sentence imposed by Gonzalez on Maude Paulin was at the low end of federal guidelines but is still higher than prison terms in many similar cases. Prosecutor Edward Chung of the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division said a stiff sentence was important to deter others.
"This is an extremely serious crime," Chung said.
Paulin, her 74-year-old mother, Evelyn Theodore, and Saintfort Paulin were convicted in March for their roles in forcing Celestin to work 15 hours a day at their Miami home. Celestin, who was living at a Haitian orphanage, was brought to the U.S. in 1999 at age 14 and escaped from the home in 2005.
Prosecutors said Celestin is one of thousands of Haitian children, known by the Creole term "restaveks," who are forced into involuntary servitude both in Haiti and in the U.S. UNICEF has estimated that up to 17,500 such people are brought to the U.S. each year to become slaves.
Testimony showed Celestin got virtually no schooling, was frequently threatened and beaten, and was forced to sleep on the floor. Celestin testified that she thought about killing herself.
...
