Abusive Forced Labor Sends NJ Woman to Prison for Years

A Burlington County woman is headed to prison for forcing two victims to perform domestic labor and childcare in her home under threats of violence and abuse.

Bolaji Bolarinwa of Moorestown Sentenced

51-year-old Bolaji Bolarinwa of Moorestown was previously found guilty of two counts of forced labor, one count of alien harboring for financial gain, and two counts of document servitude following a two-week trial in Camden federal court.

She was sentenced to 45 months, or almost four years, behind bars on Friday.

Horrific Abuse

Federal authorities say from December 2015 to October 2016, Bolarinwa, who was originally from Nigeria but living in New Jersey as a U.S. citizen, recruited two victims to come to the United States and then coerced them to perform domestic labor and childcare services for her children through physical harm, threats, isolation, constant surveillance, and psychological abuse.

Bolarinwa engaged in that conduct knowing that one of the victims was in the country illegally.

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Once the first victim arrived in the United States in December 2015, Bolarinwa confiscated her passport and coerced her through threats of physical harm to her and her daughter, verbal abuse, isolation, and constant surveillance to compel her to work every day, around-the-clock, for nearly a year.

Bolarinwa then recruited a second victim to come to America on a student visa. When that victim arrived in April 2016, Bolarinwa similarly confiscated her passport and coerced her to perform household work and childcare, but relied more heavily on physical abuse.

The two victims lived and worked in Bolarinwa’s home until October 2016, when the second victim notified a professor at her college, who then reported what she said to the FBI.

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Habba Comments

U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said,

This sentence vindicates the rights of two vulnerable women who the defendant subjected to grueling hours and coercive abuse in her home. Forced labor and human trafficking are atrocious crimes that have no place in our society. My office and the entire Department of Justice is committed to standing up for vulnerable human trafficking victims and holding their traffickers accountable.

In addition to the prison term, Bolarinwa was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, she was ordered to pay a $35,000 fine and over $87,500 in restitution.