Ukrainian Gets Life for Trafficking
Published: July 18, 2012 (Issue # 1718)
PHILADELPHIA — A Ukrainian convicted of smuggling desperate villagers to the United States to work in bondage has been sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
A prosecutor in Philadelphia says 52-year-old Omelyan Botsvynyuk’s human trafficking operation was “modern-day slavery.”
A jury found Botsvynyuk and his brother forced crews to work long hours cleaning stores, homes and offices in Pennsylvania and other mid-Atlantic states for little or no pay. It found he used sexual and physical violence to intimidate workers.
His brother Stepan Botsvynyuk faced up to 20 years in prison for racketeering and was due to be sentenced Tuesday. His sentence was not known when this paper went to press. He was also acquitted of extortion.
The defense argued workers testified only to get special visas for trafficking victims and avoid returning to Ukraine.