Assailant Sentenced to Jail in ‘Slave’ Maid Case

A 22-year-old San Diego man was sentenced to an 8-month jail term Thursday for assaulting a Mexican maid who prosecutors say was held as a slave at his family’s San Diego residence.

Superior Court Judge Tomas J. Whelan imposed the 240-day sentence and a $500 fine on Raul Vargas, a Mexican national, who had previously pleaded guilty to a single count of assault in the case. Vargas broke a broomstick over the maid’s arm at the family home last summer, causing swelling but no lasting injury, according to testimony.

Vargas, who was arrested in January, must remain in county jail an additional 72 days, after receiving credit for time already served and for good conduct in custody, said Victor Nunez, the deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.

His mother, Esperanza Vargas, 54, also a citizen of Mexico, faces up to four years in state prison after entering a guilty plea to a single count of involuntary servitude, or slavery. She is scheduled to be sentenced May 22.

Prosecutors say Juana Hernandez Ortiz, 19, a Mexican citizen, was held as a slave during 1990 at the Vargas family’s San Diego residence, where Hernandez was ostensibly employed as a live-in maid. Hernandez has testified that she was beaten, threatened, deprived of medical care and never paid a salary.

Defense lawyers have indicated that the charges were exaggerated and that the arrangement--the maid was provided room and board but no regular salary--was not that unusual for Mexico.

But Nunez, the deputy district attorney, called the maid’s treatment “a violation of basic human dignity.” Prosecutors plan to seek a court order directing the defendant’s to pay restitution to the former maid.

In February, a judge dropped slavery and related charges against Claudia Vargas, 24, the daughter of Esperanza Vargas and the sister of Raul Vargas. The judge cited a lack of evidence.