22309: (Hermantin)Sun-Sentinel-Prosecutors to seek reduction of sentence for Pines woma (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Prosecutors to seek reduction of sentence for Pines woman in slavery case



By Ann W. O'Neill
Staff Writer

June 8, 2004

A woman who with her husband allegedly forced a smuggled Haitian child into
slavery at their upscale Pembroke Pines home pleaded guilty to harboring a
person from another country, court records show.

Federal prosecutors will ask for a reduction of a possible 10-year sentence
for Marie Pompee, 48, according to court documents. The plea bargain was
struck in late April, a month after Pompee and her husband, Willy, were
indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale.

U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas will sentence Marie Pompee on July
2. Willy Pompee has been declared a federal fugitive. He is thought to be
living in Haiti.

A 12-year-old girl, referred to in the indictment as "W.K.," was nicknamed
"Little Hope" in South Florida's Haitian community when her plight became
known five years ago.

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 Pompees' 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.

Marie Pompee remained in the Miami area.

The child's case shocked South Florida and brought a wave of gifts and
support from the Haitian community.

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.

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 "stay with" in Creole. 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.
Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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