fraudulently bringing four
children from the African nation
of Togo to the U.S. and forcing
them to work as slaves in his
Michigan home was sentenced
Monday to more than 11 years in
federal prison.
Jean-Claude Toviave, who didn't
apologize when provided the
opportunity to speak at his
sentencing hearing in Detroit, also
was ordered to pay two of the
children $60,000 each.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge
Arthur Tarnow to sentence Toviave
to the maximum sentence within
the guidelines, and he did, handing
down a 135-month sentence, with
credit for about two years of time
served.
"I can't get a read on you," Tarnow
told Toviave. "I can't tell if you
understand what you did was really
wrong."
The four children emigrated from
Togo in 2006 with fraudulent
immigration paperwork that listed
them as being Toviave's biological
children, which they are not.
The victims said Toviave beat them
with toilet plungers, broomsticks
and electrical cords and starved
them if they didn't follow his orders.
They were forced to vacuum, iron,
cook, clean and shine shoes at the
home in Ypsilanti, near Ann Arbor, for
nearly five years until January 2011.
Two of the victims were in the
courtroom during sentencing, but
declined to speak.
Victim statements were entered into
the record, however, and one was
read aloud by a representative.
"The physical torture, beating me
and starving me, you inflicted was so
painful that I prayed at night that
God would either help me to be free
or allow your assaults to kill me,"
wrote the unnamed victim. "The
pain is something I will never forget.
In the midst of your verbal and
physical assaults, you worked the
four of us to death."
A jury convicted Toviave of four
counts of forced labor in October. He
previously pleaded guilty to fraud
and misuse of visas, mail fraud and
harboring aliens.
Defense lawyer Randall Roberts,
who asked Tarnow to sentence his
client to four years, said the judge's
sentence "was as tough as it comes."
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