3-Year Term in Slavery Case
A woman convicted of forcing a teen-ager to live in a garage and be the family’s maid was sentenced Friday to three years in state prison.
Esperanza Vargas, 54, was given the term by San Diego Superior Court Judge Thomas Whelan, who also imposed a $300 fine.
Her son, Raul Vargas, 22, was sentenced May 22 to 240 days in County Jail, four years’ probation and a $500 fine on an assault charge.
The offenses were committed against Juana Hernandez Ortiz, now 19, who was held as a slave in 1990 at the Vargas family’s residence in South San Diego. Hernandez testified last February that she was locked in a garage with the family’s pets and given little freedom or food.
Hernandez reportedly met Esperanza Vargas in Mexico City when she was 17.
Esperanza Vargas pleaded guilty April 4 to committing involuntary servitude, and her son pleaded guilty to assaulting Hernandez with a broomstick. She recently returned from a diagnostic study in prison.
Charges were first filed against Esperanza Vargas’ daughter, Claudia, but they were dismissed for lack of evidence at the preliminary hearing Feb. 13.
However, a federal grand jury indicted all three defendants on civil rights violations several months ago, and that is pending.
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