West African Immigrant Accused of Running a Human Trafficking Operation Recruited About 20 Girls Between the Ages of 10 to 19 From Her Homeland to NJ.

New Jersey Real-Time News
Trial begins for woman charged in human trafficking in Newark, East Orange
written by Joe Ryan/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday September 15, 2009, 9:01 AM

NEWARK -- Opening arguments are scheduled to begin today in the trial of a West African immigrant accused of running a human-trafficking operation that investigators said forced women to braid hair for up to 14 hours a day at salons in Newark and East Orange.

Akouavi Kpade Afolabi is charged in federal court in Newark with allegedly recruiting about 20 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 from her homeland of Togo and promising them better lives in New Jersey.

Once they arrived, she forced them to work in salons in Newark and East Orange, using beatings and threats of voodoo curses, authorities say. In 2007 Afolabi, her former husband and her son were charged with forced labor and other charges, in a case investigators equated to contemporary slavery.

Her lawyer denies the allegations, saying, in part, that the case stems from prosecutors' misunderstanding of West African culture.

Afolabi's ex-husband, Lassissi Afolabi, and son, Dereck Hounakey, have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Both told a federal judge that Afolabi, who has been in custody since her arrest, was the group's ringleader. A third man, Geoffry Kouevi, was convicted last month of visa fraud.

If convicted of forced labor, Afolabi faces up to 20 years in prison, said Shana W. Chen, an assistant U.S. attorney handling the case.