Image via Wikipedia By Alan Johnson
The Columbus Dispatch
The State Highway Patrol today made an arrest in Solon, Ohio, in an investigation of immigrants, mostly from Southeast Asia, who were forced to obtain fraudulent cosmetology licenses so they could work as "indentured servants" in nail salons.
Officials said it is part of what could be a statewide human-trafficking scheme.
Byron Duc Ngo, owner of a salon called Lovely Nails, was arrested and charged with complicity to commit fraud, a third-degree felony, according to Kevin L. Miller, executive director of the Ohio Board of Cosmetology. He said Ngo allegedly paid employees to fraudulently obtain licenses from the state.
While the arrests today focused on one operator, investigators are also looking into New Beginnings Hair & Barber, a salon and cosmetology college on the east side of Cleveland. The school reportedly gave out hundreds of degrees to students who never attended classes.
The issue came up this summer at the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, convened by Attorney General Richard Cordray
Miller said previously he expected there would eventually be "indictments and arrests" on human trafficking, illegal immigration, identify theft, fraudulent license testing and other charges.
The cosmetology board annually licenses 145,000 people to work in nail shops, hair salons and tanning parlors.
Miller said immigrants from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries, often brought illegally to the U.S. for a price, are given "laundered" false identities, including fake high-school diplomas, driver's licenses, immigration papers and other documents.
The employee then becomes an "indentured servant, working for the employer for two years for little or sometimes no money to pay off their debt. Often, the employees are required to live on the premises. The agency documented one case where 16 licensees lived at the same address.
Ohio nail salon owner arrested in human trafficking case | The Columbus Dispatch
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A lot of people are really finding ways to get into the US. I think they really like to work in that country because life is supposed to be good in the most powerful country. Well, the good thing is that we still have good departments that protect the people. State boards that provide people the proper license for the people to work in the country. I just hope they decrease human trafficking.
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