Five Years for Degrading Treatment of Peru Maid

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A federal judge sent a woman to prison for 5 years and ordered her to pay $123,740 in reparations to a Peruvian woman she smuggled into the United States, then put to forced labor for 21 months. Mabelle de la Rosa Dann took the victim's passport, subjected her to "humiliating and degrading" treatment in a one-bedroom apartment in Walnut Creek, paid her nothing, and told her she would be arrested if she fled, prosecutors said.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said it was the first human trafficking trial in the Northern District of California. A federal jury convicted Dann in October 2009, after a weeklong trial and one and one-half days of deliberation.

Dann, 46, is a native of Peru. She is free on bond. The judge ordered her to surrender on June 30 to do her time.

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