WASHINGTON — US residents and Micronesian citizens Nesly Mwarecheong and Bertino Weires pleaded guilty to coercing two young Micronesian men to leave their country and hand over any income made at a JBS meat packing plant in Ottumwa, Iowa.

According to the plea agreements, in December 2019, Mwarecheong and Weires paid for the victims’ passports and airfare to travel to the United States, promising that they could work and send money back to their families.

Once in the United States, the defendants confiscated the young men’s passports and social security cards. After obtaining jobs for them at a JBS processing plant, Mwarecheong and Weires proceeded to seize the entirety of their paychecks, save $20 a week.

The Justice Department stated that the victims had limited communication with their families and did not speak English.

“… the victims either had to continue complying with the defendants’ demands or risk being homeless and without a means of supporting themselves in a foreign country where they did not speak the language and had no means of returning home,” said the DOJ.

“These defendants used the allure of jobs in the United States to entice the victims and then exploited them and profited off their hard work,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice remains committed to partnering with federal, state and local officials to investigate and prosecute human trafficking offenses, which have no place in our society.”

As part of Mwarecheong and Weires’ plea, they have agreed to pay nearly $70,000 in restitution to the victims.

A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 15, 2023, in which the defendants face up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.