OAN Staff Addie Davis
9:56 AM – Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Three defendants were sentenced to prison for federal charges related to an international labor human trafficking operation, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
All three individuals pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and will have three years of supervised release following their prison sentence, explained a Friday press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia.
- Margarita Rojas Cardenas of Reidsville, Georgia, 48 years old, sentenced to 51 months and ordered to pay over $20,000 in restitution.
- Nery Rene Carillo-Najarro of Douglas, Georgia, 61 years old, sentenced to 40 months with a restitution hearing to take place in August.
- Brett Donavan Bussey also of Douglas, Georgia, 44 years old, sentenced to 10 months and ordered to may more than $6,000 in restitution.
The defendants were part of a criminal operation involving transporting Mexican and Central American workers to farms in South Georgia.
“The conspirators required the workers to pay unlawful fees for transportation, food, and housing while illegally withholding their travel and identification documents and subjected the workers ‘to perform physically demanding work for little or no pay, housing them in crowded, unsanitary, and degrading living conditions, and by threatening them with deportation and violence,’” the release stated.
According to court documents and proceeding, the investigation of the Patricio transnational criminal organization began in November of 2019, per the release. Beginning in at least 2015, “the conspirators and their associated engaged in mail fraud, international forced labor trafficking, and money laundering, among other crime crimes.” It also said they were “fraudulently using the H-2A work visa program to transport foreign nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras into the United States under the pretext of serving as agricultural workers.”
The release noted that the sentencings of the three individuals brings the case to a close, which originally featured 24 defendants, many of whom were already sentenced to prison or ordered to pay restitution, the total restitution being over $1.3 million.
The conspirators of the scheme are alleged to have made more than $200 million, per the release.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news alerts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
What do YOU think? Click here to jump to the comments!
Sponsored Content Below
Be the first to comment