20751: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-Pines couple charged with enslaving Haitian girl after (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Pines couple charged with enslaving Haitian girl after smuggling her into
U.S.

By Ann W. O'Neill
Staff Writer
Posted March 24 2004

A couple who allegedly forced a smuggled Haitian child into slavery in their
upscale Pembroke Pines home has been indicted on a charge of harboring an
alien, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Marie and Willy Pompee Sr. face 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if
convicted.

The girl, referred to in the indictment as "W.K.," was nicknamed "Little
Hope" in South Florida's Haitian community when her plight first became
known five years ago.

Then 12, she claimed to have been beaten, raped, and forced to work as a
maid and serve, since the age of 9, as a sex slave for the couple's son,
then 20.

Willy Pompee, then 43, and his son, Willy Jr., slipped out of South Florida
shortly after police raided their house in September 1999. They are thought
to be in Haiti.

But Marie Pompee remained in South Florida, and on Monday she stood before
U.S. Magistrate Barry S. Seltzer in Fort Lauderdale. She was freed on bail
and will return to court on Friday.

The case stunned South Florida and brought forth a wave of gifts and support
from the Haitian community.

"The community was very shocked at the time that something like that could
happen and no one would know about it," said Marlene Bastien, executive
director of Haitian Women of Miami, an advocacy organization that works with
Haitian women and their families. "The discussion was someone must have
known something ... and why wasn't it reported?"

According to the indictment, the girl was smuggled from Haiti after her
mother, who once worked there for the Pompees, died in 1996.

The case came to light when the girl befriended three employees of a Fort
Lauderdale modeling school after responding to a television ad for the
school. During daily calls, details of the girl's life slowly emerged.

She said although she shared the house with the Pompees and their four
children, she slept on the floor and was forced to clean the house from the
moment she returned home from school until she went to bed. She said she was
not allowed to have any personal possessions and was hardly fed. Then, as
she held her abdomen in pain, details of the alleged sexual abuse came out.

The women, skeptical at first, believed the girl's story and bought school
supplies for her.

After they spoke to a teacher, police were called and the girl was taken
from the Pompees' home.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said human trafficking is a modern form of
slavery. According to recent government estimates, as many as 20,000 people
a year are brought into the United States for forced labor or sexual
exploitation.

Child slavery is an entrenched tradition in Haiti where, according to some
estimates, there are as many as 300,000 child slaves, called restaveks.
Restavek means "to stay with" in Creole, and children on the impoverished
island sometimes are referred to as "animals."

Willy Pompee was a well-known businessman in Hialeah, where he ran a
business called "Willy's Rags," buying used clothing he resold in Haiti.

The girl's whereabouts could not be determined.

Bastien was puzzled by the charge leveled at Willy and Marie Pompee, but
relieved that prosecutors had taken action.

"At least it's a beginning, better than inaction," she said.

The case prompted an education effort within the Haitian community.

"There was a lot of education that was done for people to be more mindful of
children and children's rights," Bastien said. "It is the law here to report
if a child is being mistreated."

Ann W. O'Neill can be reached at awoneill@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4531.
     Email story
  Print story



Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page – FREE
download! http://toolbar.msn.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/