Filipino was brought to the U.S. as a nanny and ended up a virtual slave
By: Greg Forester
WEST WINDSOR She came to the country to work as a nanny after being promised $8 an hour and overtime pay
Instead she found herself living as a captive worker in the home of a West Windsor resident.
Now the person who held 23-year-old Arlene Gado in virtual captivity, Angelita Reyes, 68, has pleaded guilty to criminal restraint charges in Mercer County Superior Court following an investigation by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice.
"For two full years, the defendant controlled and exploited the victim, taking advantage of her youth and her immigration status," said New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram. "Human trafficking takes many forms, but the common thread is exploitation of the vulnerable, particularly woman and children."
Thursday’s guilty plea comes after two years of captivity that ended after a friend of Ms. Gado called the authorities in New Jersey after Ms. Gado told her of her working conditions.
Ms. Gado’s captivity began two years ago in the Philippines, where she signed on for employment in the United States, working as a nanny charged with taking care of the children of a Filipino diplomat from the Consulate General of the Philippines in San Francisco.
Soon after her arrival, Ms. Gado was flown to New Jersey in the company of the diplomat’s family members, who took away her visa and passport after telling the young woman they needed the documents for the renewal of her worker’s visa, according to the attorney general’s office.
Once in New Jersey Ms. Gado found herself forced to take care of the defendant’s sick husband, who is an in-law of the diplomat.
Bathing and feeding the man were part of her duties, along with cleaning the Blanket Flower Lane home and cooking meals for the family.
She also was forced to provide manicures, pedicures, and massages to houseguests at the West Windsor home.
New Jersey officials said that when Ms. Gado asked to leave the home from time to time, she was told she would be incarcerated if she was caught alone and unaccompanied by members of the Reyes family or the family of the Filipino diplomat.
For her work, Ms. Gado received compensation at a much lower level than what was promised when she came over from the Philippines, originally receiving a total of $250 a month and later $325 a month after being delegated additional responsibilities as a captive worker in Ms. Reyes’ home.
Following Ms. Gado’s rescue by Division of Criminal Justice from the Reyes household on May 2, Ms. Gado was placed in a social support agency shelter.
The arrangements of the plea deal mean Ms. Reyes will have to pay Ms. Gado the difference between the money she made during her forced captivity and the pay she agreed to when she signed the employment contract in the Philippines in 2005. Ms. Reyes is set to be sentenced in Mercer County Superior Court on Oct. 12.
Attorney General Milgram, who announced the plea in a statement, has previously worked as the lead prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice in the area of human trafficking.
"We urge anyone with information about human trafficking to alert us," Ms. Milgram said.

