Texas Couple Pleads Guilty to Forcing Nanny to Work Without Pay for Two Years

A couple living in Katy, a suburb of Houston, pleaded guilty to forcing a Nigerian woman to work nearly 20 hours every day for two years without pay. A federal court ordered them to pay the woman more than $121,000 in restitution, according to the Associated Press.

Chudy Nsobundu and his wife Sandra were also sentenced to seven months in jail, seven months of home confinement and three years on probation last Friday.

The Nsobundus are naturalized citizens but are originally from Nigeria. According to reports, the couple recruited the unnamed woman from Nigeria with the promise of a $100 monthly wage to take care of their home and five children.

Authorities said that is far from what happened. Instead, the couple physically and verbally abused the woman while she worked in the Nsobundu home from September 2013 to October 2015.

According to court documents, the woman worked from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day. She was allegedly not allowed to take breaks, have a hot shower nor eat fresh food, including having to drink the children's leftover milk when they ate cereal.

Authorities said the woman was unable to escape since the Nsobundus kept her passport, mentally abused her and threatened to physically harm her. She reached out for help and was freed from the Nsobundus with the help of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.

Prosecutors said the couple knowingly submitted a false visa application, claiming the woman was 20 years older than she actually is, married (to the couple's former driver) when she was not, that she was in the U.S. to attend a graduation and that Chudy Nsobundu was her brother.