Woman Guilty of Smuggling Woman for Surrogacy, Forced Labor

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a northeast Florida woman has pleaded guilty to smuggling a Mexican woman into the U.S. as a pregnancy surrogate and instead forced her into domestic labor through abuse.

Acting U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Morrow on Monday said 47-year-old Esthela Clark of Jacksonville pleaded guilty to forced labor and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

According to the plea agreement, Clark paid $3,000 to have the victim smuggled into the U.S. and assured her the surrogacy would be medically supervised.

Instead, prosecutors say she forced the woman into domestic labor through abuse and used sperm from her boyfriend's used condoms to try and impregnate her. No pregnancy resulted.

Prosecutors say Clark also starved the victim, resulting in a 65-pound weight loss.

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