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By Michelle Balani
The story started innocently enough. A Georgia minister's wife traveled to southern Africa and recruited a young woman to act as a cook for a family wedding in the United States. The woman agreed to join her and she headed to the land of milk and honey in pursuit of a better opportunity. This was a God-loving American woman, after all, and she had helped countless others with her ministry, so what could possibly go wrong?
Once they arrived in Greenwood, Georgia, a bucolic suburb of Atlanta where the American resided with her family, it all started unraveling, according to documents presented to the Department of Justice. It turned out that there was no wedding, and no culinary job available for the young woman in the states. The woman's offer had all been less-than-genuine, and the young African woman was made to work off her travel debt as a housekeeper for the family.
Just last week, the couple, Juna Gwedolyn Babb and her minister husband, Michael J. Babb, pleaded guilty to felony offenses related to a scheme to compel the unpaid labor of the young woman. They were forced to pay the victim $25,000 in restitution and are now facing time in prison.
State government officials and law enforcement authorities are ramping up their efforts to crackdown on individuals like the Babbs. In July, the state of Georgia enacted House Bill 200, one of the country's harshest laws against trafficking that calls for increased punishments for those who profit off of these types of criminal offenses, and advocates say that this could serve as a model for other states.
A recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 167 of the 527 confirmed trafficking victims and 224 of the 488 trafficking suspects between 2008-2010 were black, and the Babb case is a perfect example of how involuntary servitude is still a major problem that plagues the African-American community.
"This case reminds us that modern day slavery is occurring in our communities," said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
"This young woman believed that she was only traveling to the United States for a brief visit to help with a wedding. Instead, she was compelled to labor for the defendants for more than two years. It is especially disturbing that the victim was exploited by a minister and his wife."
How the Babbs went from helping people in Africa to exploiting a native of the country in the course of 20 years remains a mystery, but according to his website, Michael began his evangelical ministry with the best of intentions. In 1985, he set out with his wife Juna to spread the word of the gospel through missionary projects in impoverished neighborhoods in Kenya, Mozambique, Gambia, Nigeria, Swaziland and South Africa. Babb later joined forces with Christ Embassy International Church, one of the largest congregations in Nigeria that boasts 3.5 million followers, and opened his own chapter in Atlanta.
Although many in Babb's Atlanta congregation came to the defense of the couple, and continue to support them now, that wasn't enough evidence to disprove their guilt. According to their lawyer, Adam M. Hames, while the Babbs confirm that they were responsible for harboring an undocumented worker, they maintain that they did pay the then-29-year-old African woman for her services.
"Had the case gone to trial we would have produced evidence that the lady was paid some amount of money," he said. "But that amount of money was below market level for a live-in housekeeper."
Juna Babb pleaded guilty to the offense of harboring an alien for financial gain, and she faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Michael Babb said that he knew of his wife's harboring of the victim, as well as the fact that Juna Babb was compelling the victim's labor. He is charged with failure to notify authorities of the alien harboring, and concealing his wife's crime by denying that the victim worked as the defendants' housekeeper to special agents of the FBI. He faces up to three years in prison. They are both set to be sentenced during hearing on Oct. 6, 2011.
"Human trafficking, while taking on many forms, consists primarily of those who prey on the vulnerabilities of others for personal gain," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Lamkin. "That was, in fact, the case in this matter as a young woman from Swaziland was being forced into labor and was unsure of who to turn to for help. The FBI continues to aggressively pursue all allegations of human trafficking matters and is proud of the role that it played in bringing this case to a successful conclusion."
"Schemes like this one target the most vulnerable in our society," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. "The department is committed to prosecuting individuals who engage in acts that exploit individuals who wish to work in our country."
Human trafficking is now the fastest growing crime in the world, and the U.S. State Department estimates that there are 12.3 million adults and children -- 56 percent of whom are women and girls -- that are the victims of forced labor, bonded labor and sex slavery worldwide. The trade puts about $32 billion into the pockets of traffickers each year.
"Few crimes are more shocking than the trafficking of human beings in this country," said Brock Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Investigations in Atlanta. "No one should have to live in a world of isolation and forced servitude."
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