Wednesday, May 14, 2025 - A New Jersey-based Nigerian woman, Bolaji Bolarinwa, has been sentenced to 45 months in US prison for forced labor and other crimes related to her coercive scheme to compel two victims to perform domestic labor and childcare in her home.
The United State Department of Justice announced this in
a statement on Friday, May 9, 2025.
Bolarinwa, 51, of Moorestown, previously was found guilty
of two counts of forced labor, one count of alien harboring for financial gain
and two counts of document servitude following a two-week trial before U.S.
District Judge Karen M. Williams in Camden federal court. Judge Williams
imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and the
evidence at trial, from December 2015 to October 2016, Bolarinwa — originally
from Nigeria, but living in New Jersey as a U.S. citizen — recruited two
victims to come to the United States and then coerced them to perform domestic
labor and childcare services for her children through physical harm, threats of
physical harm, isolation, constant surveillance and psychological abuse.
The defendant engaged in this conduct knowing that one of
the victims was out of lawful immigration status while working in her home.
Once the first victim arrived
in the United States in December 2015, Bolarinwa confiscated her passport and
coerced her through threats of physical harm to her and her daughter, verbal
abuse, isolation and constant surveillance to compel her to work every day,
around-the-clock for nearly a year.
Bolarinwa then recruited a second victim to come to the
United States on a student visa. When the second victim arrived in the United
States in April 2016, Bolarinwa similarly confiscated her passport and coerced
her to perform household work and childcare but relied more heavily on physical
abuse.
The two victims lived and worked in Bolarinwa’s home
until October 2016, when the second victim notified a professor at her college,
who reported the information to the FBI.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Williams sentenced
Bolarinwa to three years of supervised release, imposed a $35,000 fine, and
ordered Bolarinwa to pay $87,518.72 in restitution to the victims of her
offenses.
“The defendant exploited her relationship with the
victims to lure them to the United States with false promises,” said Assistant
Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights
Division.
“The defendant confiscated the victims’ immigration
documents and subjected them to threats, physical force, and mental abuse to
coerce them to work long hours for minimal pay. This prosecution should send a
strong message that such forced labor will not be tolerated in our communities.
The Justice Department is committed to fully enforcing our federal human
trafficking statutes to vindicate the rights of survivors and hold human
traffickers accountable for such shameful exploitation of vulnerable victims.”
“Today’s sentence vindicates the rights of two vulnerable
women who the defendant subjected to grueling hours and coercive abuse in her
home,” said U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for District of New Jersey. “Forced
labor and human trafficking are atrocious crimes that have no place in our
society. My office and the entire Department of Justice is committed to
standing up for vulnerable human trafficking victims and holding their
traffickers accountable.”
“Human nature is generally good. There are situations
though that prove some people display more cruel and inhumane behavior,” said
Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence G. Reilly of the FBI Newark Field
Office. “Bolarinwa lured women with false promises, held them captive, and
forced them clean her home and care for her children. Then took it a sickening
step further by physically abusing them. Luckily, one of the victims had the
courage to tell someone. We ask anyone who notices an odd situation, something
that doesn't look or feel right, to please call us so we can help victims that
may be hiding in plain sight.”
U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for the District of New Jersey
credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in
Charge Terence G. Reilly in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s
sentence.
The case was prosecuted as part of the U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the District of New Jersey’s Human Trafficking Task Force, which was
formed in 2025. The Task Force brings together federal and state agencies to
collaborate and dedicate resources to combat human trafficking and prosecute
human trafficking offenders who endanger the safety of the community.
The Human Trafficking Task Force is composed of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Department of Labor,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the
Internal Revenue Service, and the New Jersey Office of Attorney General.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Jeffrey Bender for the District of New Jersey and Trial Attorney Elizabeth
Hutson of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
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