Shortly after midnight Thursday, police officers in the wealthy city of Woodbury, Minn., turned down a darkened street to find a shocking sight. In the road stood a woman. Her face and body were badly bruised. Her two blackened eyes were filled with fear. The 58-year-old woman spoke only Chinese, however. It wasn’t until a translator arrived that officers began to understand her story. It was a story of sheer terror. The woman told police that she had been beaten, starved and threatened with death by her employer, for whom she worked as a nanny. The nanny had also been forced to walk on all fours for hours “like a dog” and fed her own hair, she said. When police took the nanny to the hospital, they discovered she had multiple broken ribs and a broken sternum, authorities said. On Friday, the nanny’s employer, 35-year-old Lili Huang, appeared in court to face charges including human trafficking, false imprisonment and assault. Washington County Attorney Pete Orput likened the nanny’s treatment to “slavery or indentured servitude.” “She was held in pretty appalling conditions,” he told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. Huang’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. The allegation has stunned Woodbury, a quiet and upscale suburb of St. Paul. The city is home to some of the country’s wealthiest families, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reported in 2015. Earlier this year, Woodbury was named a finalist for the National Civic League’s All-America City Award, given to 10 communities across the nation that “engage residents in innovative, inclusive and effective efforts to tackle critical challenges.” In its application, Woodbury boasted of raising tens of thousands of dollars to fight child hunger and maintaining its “small-town” sense of community. And yet, according to authorities, hidden behind the white columns and red brick of Lili Huang’s $539,000 house on Wellington Lane was the most heinous of abuse. The nanny, who has not been named, began working for the wealthy Huang family in Shanghai, where she took care of Huang’s minor daughter, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The Huangs treated her well in China, the nanny told authorities, so she agreed work for them in the United States. Shortly after arriving in Minnesota in March, however, the nanny realized that her situation had radically shifted. She had been promised $890 a month but now found herself working up to 18 hours a day cooking, cleaning and taking care of the Huangs’ child, according to the complaint. Her salary only came out to about $1.80 an hour, authorities later calculated, but she said she never even received that amount. Instead of a fair wage, she received frequent beatings, she told police. “During the time in the home she was physically assaulted by defendant, often times in front of the children,” Orput, the county prosecutor, said in a statement. “When this occurred she told defendant she wanted to return to China. Defendant acquired the victim’s passport and kept it and told the woman she was ‘not going anywhere.'” The nanny was also starved by the family, she told police. She was fed nothing but “scraps” and crackers, causing her to drop from 120 pounds to just 88 pounds in barely four months, according to authorities. The nanny felt trapped because she had no passport or money and did not speak English. The attacks worsened this month, she told police. On July 4, as Woodbury residents relaxed on blankets and lawn chairs outside the city’s sports center to watch fireworks, the nanny was allegedly being assaulted by Huang. Huang grabbed the woman’s hair and bashed her head into a table and other objects, the nanny told police. She was also punched and kicked in her rib cage, according to the complaint. Less than a week later, Huang again attacked the nanny, according to the complaint. On July 10, the nanny was so badly beaten that “she could not get up off her hands and knees,” according to prosecutors. She was forced to walk around the house on her hands and knees “like a dog for four hours,” the Woodbury Bulletin reported, citing the complaint. The alleged abuse came to a head on July 13. When the nanny accidentally spilled food on the counter, “the defendant came after the woman with a knife threatening to kill her,” according to the county prosecutor’s statement. When Huang’s father allegedly stopped the attack, the nanny finally fled the home. She walked more than two miles past neatly manicured lawns, luxury SUVs and Lutheran churches until police officers finally came upon her near the sports center that had just hosted July 4 celebrations. With her two black eyes, the nanny told a police translator that she had escaped the house in search of the airport so she could finally go home. She showed police photos on her cellphone of her various injuries, according to the Star Tribune. At a nearby hospital, X-rays revealed her broken ribs and sternum. Police pulled up to the large house on Wellington Lane. Then they strode past its red brick and white columns and arrested Lili Huang. Among the items seized inside the spacious home was a bag that had been hidden under the nanny’s mattress. It was full of human hair. The nanny told police that Huang had ripped the hair from her head. The nanny then hid the hair, according to the complaint, so that Huang wouldn’t find it “and force her to eat it.” Huang appeared in court on Friday to face five felony charges, according to prosecutors: labor trafficking, seizing a passport with intent to violate labor trafficking, false imprisonment, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault causing substantial bodily harm. She remains jailed in lieu of $350,000 bail, according to the Star Tribune. In his statement, the county prosecutor alluded to the city’s shock over the abuse allegations and the arrest of an affluent resident. “Human labor trafficking is a crime that no one can believe exists in their community,” he said. “However, it is here, it is being committed by some of our citizens, and it amounts to nothing less than slavery in the 21st century.” Around the globe, “modern-day slavery” exploits tens of millions of people and generates more than $150 billion annually, the United Nations’ International Labour Office reported in January. Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...a-dog-in-wealthy-minn-suburb-authorities-say/
This just irks me beyond words. Where have things gone so wrong in this world that humanity simply ceases to exists?
Horrible, just interesting though on the sudden change of attitude when they were in China to the US...cause I'm sure they could have enslaved them just as much knowing how corrupt mainland is...
Probably can't enslaved the old lady in China because 1) the old lady probably has friends and families in China. They aren't going to let her suffer like that 2) language barrier - that scum probably thought she can do whatever she wants to the old lady that doesn't speak a word of english.
True, I didn't think about her having family/friends there....but once they brought her over all hell broke loose for her literally. At least she was able to get out and probably will get deported back to mainland.
Stories like this are not new. Chinese, Malaysian, Indian ...whatever. It seems that when people of means have their perceived shackles removed, who they are as human beings often rises to the fore. These are the people who would fail at ethical or integrity challenges, where a moral dilemma is secretly presented to the person, and the person thinks that only he is aware of the situation, and reacts to it as if he was alone. What they don't know is, that it was really an experiment to judge their moral integrity. In tests like these, most people pass; that is, they choose the moral or ethical thing to do, even if they believed that no one was looking. Their rationale often is, "well, god knows, and I know; I wouldn't be able to live with myself otherwise." But surprisingly, ethical challenges often cause the very well off to stumble. That is, they choose the immoral or unethical choice, and thereafter, when confronted with their human failing, seek to blame others or rationalize their behavior. One type of classic test is a found wallet with money. Does the subject return it (the right thing to do) or do they keep it (the morally wrong thing but a financial gain)? Having said all that, in the OP's case as detailed, this is theft of services, and is a form of financial gain which this home owner from Shanghai wants, but does not want to pay for. It's a pretty obvious immoral choice given that the woman can well afford such service but is simply unwilling to pay for it. Further, the woman is indeed, willing to go to great lengths, even criminal lengths, to obtain this service for free. As shown, once the servant was literally 'without recourse' the home owner immediately began to physically abuse her and treat her like a personal slave. I sincerely hope that such cases get public press in China AND the US, where many well off families hire and retain workers to travel with them. This would warn them that the US is not the place to attempt this sort of labor skulduggery and that people do go to jail for it. I'm sure that given China's money uber alles ethic and how they can literally run over babies and not care, there are many other cases like this in the shadows, yet to be exposed. Spoiler: Another Article About This Case Woman Charged With Human Trafficking After Allegedly Beating and Starving Her Nanny By Catie L'Heureux A Minnesota woman is accused of starving and beating her Chinese nanny in a wealthy suburb outside St. Paul. She was charged with human labor trafficking and four other felonies on Friday. A county attorney likened the nanny's conditions to "slavery or indentured servitude." The unnamed 58-year-old nanny claims Lili Huang, 35, beat and starved her. Police discovered the nanny wandering a street in Woodbury, Minnesota, on Thursday night. She had two black eyes, broken ribs, and a broken sternum. Through a translator, the nanny told police she began working for the Huang family in Shanghai and moved to their Minnesota home in March. Given a room and promised $890 per month, the nanny said she was forced to work 18 hours a day while cooking, cleaning, and caring for the family's children — work that amounted to less than $2 an hour, payment she reportedly never received. Huang allegedly never let her out of the house and often assaulted her in front of the children, according to a press release from Washington County's attorney. The alleged attacks happened in a large red-brick home in Woodbury, an upscale suburb east of St. Paul. When the nanny told Huang she wanted to return to China, Huang apparently took her passport and said she was "not going anywhere." The abuse apparently escalated this month: On July 4, Huang allegedly grabbed the nanny's hair and smashed her head on a table and other objects. The nanny said she was so hurt by the beatings on July 10 that she couldn't rise from her hands and knees for four hours. On July 13, Huang allegedly chased her with a knife and threatened to kill her after she accidentally spilled food on a counter. When the nanny was found last Thursday, she told police she fled the house in search of an airport to go home. The nanny said she was 120 pounds when she came to the U.S. and now, after four months at the Huang residence, weighs 88 pounds. She said she was given scraps of food. Agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and police from four cities arrested Huang. While searching the home, they found a bag of hair under the nanny’s mattress, which the nanny said Huang had ripped from her head. She said she hid the hair so she wouldn’t be forced to eat it. Huang appeared in court on Friday and was charged with five felony counts, including labor trafficking, seizing a passport while intending to violate labor trafficking, false imprisonment, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault causing substantial bodily harm. She was held on $1 million unconditional bail and $350,000 conditional bail. Her next initial court appearance is set for August 18. Nearly 21 million people were victims of forced labor worldwide, according to the International Labour Organization. In a press release announcing Huang's charges, Washington County attorney Pete Orput said human labor trafficking "amounts to nothing less than slavery in the 21st century. We are determined, as part of this office’s Major Prosecution unit, to attack this issue just as we have attacked sex trafficking of juveniles." Sources: http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/07/lil...ed-with-beating-chinese-nanny-like-slave.html https://www.longroom.com/discussion...m-shanghai-that-she-was-left-with-broken-ribs
I think this case is more than . I admit, the "theft of services" is pretty common. If you ask me, companies paying pennies on the dollar to make goods in foreign countries can be considered as "theft of services" as well. What sent me to a state of disbelief is the beating and torturing of a helpless 58 years old by that scum.
Well, yeah. That part is pretty obvious. The degree of criminality that the home owner was willing to undertake in her control of her victim was beyond the pale. I hope she gets a lot of years and thereafter I hope immigration voids her resident status as she's originally from China. That way she goes to jail and then after serving a very long sentence is kick out of the US.
Just an update to this story. Glad to see that some measure of justice was done. Given that she was sentenced to 'a year and a day,' from her date of sentencing (11 Aug 17) that would make the end of this week to be her release date, and also deportation back to China.
