A federal jury convicted a Hazel Crest woman and her two daughters on child labor trafficking charges for forcing two undocumented West African girls to work in the south suburbs, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago.
The jury verdicts were returned Tuesday against Nawomi Awoga, 75, of Hazel Crest, and her daughters, Marina Oke, 38, of Country Club Hills and Assiba Lea Fandohan, 35, of Hazel Crest, according to the office.
Following a two-week trial, they were each found guilty of one count of conspiracy to conceal, harbor and shield from detection two children from the West African country of Benin; one count of concealment of an undocumented immigrant; and one count of forcing labor through threats of serious harm to a victim or another person, according to a news release from the office.
After the verdicts were returned, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey, who oversaw the trial, ordered Awoga remanded to the custody of the federal bureau of prisons. He did not immediately set sentencing dates.
The three were indicted in July 2020, and authorities said that the two girls, ages 12 and 14 at the time, left their families in Benin in June 2014 to come to the United States. Awoga is a citizen of Benin, and lived at various times with her daughters in the south suburbs, according to the indictment.
According to evidence presented at trial, Awoga coached the victims to lie to U.S. immigration authorities about their family relationships in order to obtain tourist visas, and then accompanied them into the United States.
The girls were told to represent themselves as sisters, and that Awoga’s daughters were the girls’ parents, according to the indictment.
Once the girls were in the U.S., Awoga and her daughters had the girls living at their south suburban homes, “while the victims were forced to provide labor and services for the defendants’ financial gain,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
The three women used violence against the victims to force them to work both inside the residences and at a hair salon in Homewood, according to the office.
mnolan@tribpub.com