(WNY News Now) – BUFFALO, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a four-count indictment charging a 32-year-old Dunkirk, NY, man with two counts of forced labor, one count of kidnapping a minor, and one count of transportation of a minor for the purpose of illegal sexual activity. The charges carry a minimum penalty of 20 years in prison, a maximum of life, and a $250,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas A. C. Penrose, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, Augusto Mateo Francisco, 32, facilitated the illegal entry of Guatemalan migrants into the United States and helped transport them to the Dunkirk area, where he would provide them with housing and work at area farms. Francisco would charge the migrants for their housing, rides to work, and for other items. He would also take a cut of the wages they earned working at the farms. Francisco threatened two individuals (Victim 1 and Victim 2), telling them that if they stopped working for him or if they did not pay back the money they purportedly owed to him, he would harm their families or would call immigration authorities and have them deported.
In addition, Francisco pursued a sexual relationship with Minor Victim 1, a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who had come to the U.S. with her mother. Francisco repeatedly raped Minor Victim 1, threatening to harm her siblings who were still in Guatemala if she told anyone about what had happened. In May 2020, Francisco abducted Minor Victim 1 and took her to a trailer in Ripley, NY, where she was held for nearly two weeks, until being rescued by police. Following her rescue, Minor Victim 1 and her mother fled to Georgia to escape Francisco. However, he followed them and kidnapped Minor Victim 1, bringing her back to the Western District of New York, where he unlawfully held her for several more days, until she was again rescued by police.
Francisco was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy, and is being held pending a detention hearing on December 20, 2023, at 2:30 p.m.
The indictment is the result of by Homeland Security investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino and the Chautauqua County Sherriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff James Quattrone.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
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