A U.S. federal court has indicted the son of the former president of Guinea and his wife for allegedly enslaving a young Guinean girl in their luxurious Dallas, Texas, home for 16 years.
Mohamed Toure and Denise Cros-Toure were charged with forced labor and harboring an alien for financial gain.
Their attorney said the government’s case is “riddled with salacious allegations, fabrications and lies.”
But U.S. attorneys said the Toures brought the unidentified girl to the United States from her village in Guinea in 2000. They said she was at least 5 years old but could have been as old as 13.
Neighbors helped her escape in 2016 and brought her to the YWCA to live.
She told investigators the couple forced her to work from sunup deep into the evening, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children.
Neighbors also reported seeing the young girl painting the house, mowing the lawn and gardening.
The couple refused to let her attend school and never paid her. She also told authorities they would beat her with belts and electrical cords, and once yanked an earring from her ear, leaving a scar.
The Toures face up to 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine if convicted.
Mohamed Toure is the son of the late Ahmed Sekou Toure, the first president of Guinea after it gained independence from France in 1958. He served until he died of a heart attack in 1984.
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