JURY CONVICTS NEW HAMPSHIRE COUPLE OF FORCED LABOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights R. Alexander Acosta and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire Tom Colantuono today announced that a federal jury returned guilty verdicts against two Litchfield residents on charges of forced labor. Timothy H. Bradley, 43 years old, and Kathleen Mary O’Dell, 48, were convicted on 18 counts of forced labor and wire fraud.

The convictions stem from the treatment of four Jamaican citizens whom Bradley and O’Dell recruited in Jamaica and brought to New Hampshire to work for Bradley Tree Service in the spring and summer of 2000 and 2001. Bradley and O’Dell were convicted of conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, trafficking for the purpose of forced labor, and document servitude for forcing two of these men to work.

“Human trafficking is an affront to human dignity and a serious violation of the law,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute those who so callously target and enslave vulnerable individuals.”

Bradley and O’Dell threatened the men with serious harm and physical restraint to obtain their labor and services. They confiscated the victims’ passports so they could not return home to Jamaica. Bradley and O’Dell refused to allow the men to leave and severely restricted their freedom of travel. Bradley and O’Dell physically assaulted one of the men and Bradley ordered his dog to attack the man as he was fleeing. Bradley and O’Dell forced the men to live in a tool shed and a trailer in their backyard without adequate heating or plumbing and charged the men $50 per week for rent. Bradley and O’Dell also denied one of the men medical care when he was injured on the job.

Bradley and O’Dell were also convicted of wire fraud for defrauding all four men by misrepresenting to them how much they would be paid as employees of Bradley Tree Service in the United States. They also misrepresented the type of work that the men would be doing on applications to the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security.

“Those who violate individuals’ civil rights do violence to our Constitution and erode the fundamental freedoms on which our democracy is based,” said Tom Colantuono. “Through prosecutions like this one, we will continue to defend the civil rights of everyone protected by our laws.”

These convictions were the result of a 17-month investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State and the Litchfield Police Department. The investigation included locating and interviewing witnesses in Jamaica and conducting dozens of interviews in the United States.

Bradley and O’Dell face maximum prison sentences ranging from 5 to 20 years and maximum fines of $250,000 for each count. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for December 4, 2003.

Trial attorneys from the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire jointly prosecuted this case.

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