SANTA ANA,
California – A federal grand jury has charged three top administrators of a
Philippines-based church with overseeing a labor trafficking scheme that forced
church members to solicit donations for a bogus charity after the defendants illegally
obtained visas and other immigration documents that allowed the workers to
enter and remain in the United States.
The
one-count indictment returned by the grand jury late Wednesday alleges a
conspiracy to commit a series of offenses, including trafficking with respect
to forced labor, document servitude, immigration fraud and marriage fraud.
The three
defendants were arrested last month after being named in a criminal complaint
that alleged a conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Today’s indictment
expands the scope of the alleged scheme and includes new details about the
immigration fraud portion of the scheme.
The core
allegations of the case are that representatives of the church – the Kingdom of
Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name (KOJC) – obtained visas for church
members to enter the U.S. by claiming, for example, they would be performing at
musical events. But once the church members arrived in the United States, they
were required to surrender their passports and work long hours as “FTWs”
(full-time workers), who solicited donations for a church non-profit called the
Children’s Joy Foundation USA (CJF). While the workers raised funds by telling
donors their money would benefit impoverished children in the Philippines, the
indictment alleges that most or all of the money raised was used to finance
KOJC operations and the lavish lifestyles of church leaders.
While some
KOJC workers knew they were entering the U.S. to be fundraisers, the indictment
alleges “other KOJC workers were unaware of the actual purpose until they were
forced…to solicit on the streets nearly every day, year-round, working very
long hours, and often sleeping in cars overnight, without normal access to
over-the-counter medicine or even clothes.”
The
defendants confiscated the victims’ passports and other immigration documents
“to prevent and restrict…KOJC workers’ liberty to move and travel in order to
maintain the labor and services of KOJC workers, some of whom were and had been
a victim of a severe form of trafficking,” according to the indictment.
The three
defendants charged in the indictment are:
Guia Cabactulan,
59, the lead KOJC administrator in the United States who maintained direct
communication with KOJC leadership in the Philippines;
Marissa Duenas,
41, who allegedly secured the passports immediately after workers entered the
U.S. and handled fraudulent immigration documents for KOJC workers; and
Amanda Estopare,
48, who allegedly was in charge of tracking and reporting the money raised in
the U.S. to KOJC officials in the Philippines.
All three
defendants – who were arrested on January 29 and remain in federal custody –
are scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on February 20 in United States
District Court in Santa Ana.
As part of
the long-running scheme, the three defendants kept productive workers in the
U.S. by obtaining student visas or by arranging sham marriages with KOJC
workers who were U.S. citizens, the indictment alleges. To create the illusion
of legitimate marriages, Duenas allegedly possessed ATM cards to show
immigration officials that workers in the sham marriages had joint bank
accounts. Furthermore, Cabactulan and Duenas possessed wedding rings for KOJC
workers to use during their fraudulent marriage ceremonies, according to the
indictment. Immigration records summarized in the criminal complaint indicate
there were 82 marriages involving KOJC administrators and FTWs over the past
two decades.
When
authorities searched the KOJC compound in Van Nuys on January 29, Cabactulan
and Duenas possessed approximately 72 Filipino passports, seven United States
passports, and one Ukrainian passport that belonged to other people, according
to the indictment, which also notes that Duenas possessed four male wedding
rings and three female wedding rings in an office at the KOJC compound.
The search
also revealed that Duenas possessed a file titled “Traitor” that contained
information on KOJC members who fled the church, the indictment alleges.
An
indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every
defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt.
The conspiracy
charge alleged in the indictment carries a statutory maximum penalty of five
years in federal prison.
As part of
the ongoing investigation, the FBI is encouraging potential victims or anyone
with information about KOJC activities to contact investigators. Those with
information are asked to call the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at (310)
477-6565. Individuals may also contact the FBI through its website at
https://www.fbi.gov/tips.
The ongoing
investigation into KOJC is being led by the FBI, which is receiving substantial
assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Service’s Fraud Detection and National Security Unit, the U.S.
Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, and IRS Criminal
Investigation.
This matter
is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Daniel Ahn and Jake
Nare of the Santa Ana Branch Office.
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