A 46-year-old man has been charged with money laundering and interstate kidnapping. He has a court date in January in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is currently being held in federal custody.
Last year, a 34-year-old woman sent an email to her husband, from whom she is estranged. She wanted money and he was concerned. He contacted law enforcement, who traced the email to the 46-year-old man. He uses a warehouse on Mack-Todd Road in Zebulon, North Carolina, to operate his business.
The woman was with the man when police arrived at the warehouse. The woman said she had met the man on an online dating website and came from Germany to meet him. When she got here, though, she said the man took all of her money so she couldn’t get out of the U.S.
When police searched the warehouse, they found a passage that you could use to hide someone, as well as a passage behind a cabinet that led to a restroom. There is no further information about where the man reportedly hid the woman.
The man was originally charged at the state level with two counts of assault by strangulation, sexual servitude of an adult victim and second-degree sex offense.
Federal charges carry significant prison time and fines. In addition, there is no parole for federal prison time. It is important for those facing federal charges to make sure they understand the possible defenses options for their cases. Each federal case needs an experienced attorney who is comfortable with the federal court system. It is different from a state court system.
Source: wral.com, “Federal charges filed in Zebulon human trafficking case,” Cullen Browder, Dec. 14, 2015