A Dunkirk man will spend 30 years in prison for labor trafficking and kidnapping.
U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said 34-year old Augusto Mateo Francisco was convicted of two counts of forced labor and one count of transportation of a minor.
He has been sentenced to serve 30 years in prison and lifetime supervised release by U.S. District Judge John Sinatra, Jr. Francisco was also ordered to pay restitution and register as a sex offender.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Penrose, and Department of Justice Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit Trial Attorney Meghan Tokash stated that Francisco, a native of Guatemala and a Legal Permanent Resident, 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, 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 March 2019, Francisco pursued a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who had come to the U.S. with her mother. Francisco repeatedly raped the minor, threatening to harm her family, who were still in Guatemala, if she told anyone about what had happened. In May 2020, Francisco abducted the minor and took her to a trailer in Ripley, where she was held for nearly two weeks, until being rescued by police. Following her rescue, the minor and her mother fled to Georgia to escape Francisco. However, he followed them and kidnapped the minor, bringing her back to the Western New York, where he unlawfully held her for several more days, until she was again rescued by police.
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