Couple charged with exploiting Pinay faces long US prison terms

WASHINGTON – A Maryland couple has been indicted on charges of holding a Filipino woman in domestic servitude for 10 years, paying her little or no wages and forcing her to marry to get a green card, a permanent US residence permit.

If convicted, retired obstetrician Alfred Edwards, 73, and his wife Gloria, 60, who reside in Upper Marlboro near Washington DC, face a possible 50 years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines over their treatment of the woman, identified in the indictment only by the initials TE.

The indictment said Gloria Edwards recruited TE in the Philippines in 1999 knowing she was “uneducated, illiterate, impoverished, and in need of employment.”

TE was enticed with the promise of employment at the Edwards’ residence to support her eight children in the Philippines. Instead she was exploited.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that TE worked long days cooking, cleaning, ironing, gardening and providing nightly massages for Edwards’ mother for $50 a month.

It said she also cleaned for neighbors and relatives to pay rent on Edwards’ small apartment in the Philippines where the woman’s eight children lived at times during the 10 years.

The indictment said when TE’s work visa was due to expire she was forced in 2000 to marry Alfred Edward’s brother, described as suffering from “dementia, diabetes, and related conditions.”

This fraudulent marriage resulted in a green card being issued to her but it was confiscated by her employers in August 2005.

According to court records, TE ran away in 2002 but was forced to return after the couple threatened to have her arrested for abandoning Edwards’ brother.

The woman left the couple for good in September 2009 and the Post quoted a spokeswoman at the US Attorney’s office for Maryland as saying “she is safe.”

The Edwards, through their lawyers, have denied the allegations in the indictment.

Some commentators said forced labor and domestic servitude seem minor charges for what really appears as slavery. By today’s standards, even a $50 per month salary should be considered slavery wage, they said.