Federal Human Trafficking Trial Resumes In Philadelphia
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Two brothers are now on trial in Philadelphia, charged with taking part in a family human trafficking operation that lured and smuggled people from the Ukraine into the US and on to Philadelphia.
A federal jury has heard opening statements and the start of testimony, which resumes this morning.
Prosecutor Michelle Morgan has told the jury that the defendants, Mykhaylo Botsvynyuk and Yaroslav Churuk, were part of a five brother conspiracy.
Morgan says they held victims against their will and forced them to work with threats, beatings, sexual assault, and threats against family back home.
"You will hear that even some of the mothers were called by the Botsvynyuks. They called up the mothers of the workers on the phone back in the Ukraine, and threatened them and other family members," Morgan told the jury.
And the first witness has testified he was threatened and beaten, and witnessed beatings of others.
But the defendants have pleaded not guilty. Defense attorney Mark Cedrone has told the jury the alleged victims wanted to come here, and he's suggested they are now cooperating -- and lying -- to get what they wanted initially: to stay in the United States.
Two other Botsvynyuk brothers were convicted earlier. One was sentenced to life in prison, the other 20 years in prison. A fifth brother is a fugitive.