Charges stayed against alleged human traffickers of workers from Mexico

Four people, including a man and woman from the Alliston area, accused of labour trafficking had their charges stayed in a Brampton, Ont. courtroom.

Floriberta Sarmiento, 29, and Francisco Antonio-Olvera, 35, along with a man in his 70s from Etobicoke and a Halton, Ont. man in his 50s, were charged following the provincial human trafficking investigation Project Foxtrot in 2023.

The accused were alleged to have trafficked workers from Mexico. Investigators said the accused exploited the workers, who were between 27 and 42 years of age and promised work visas and good-paying jobs only to be lied to and forced to work in recycling plants in Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta.

Sarmiento and Antonio-Olvera were accused of luring three men with passports from Mexico to work for them and others. The workers said they lived in a cold basement with no running water and slept on an air mattress they had buy for themselves, while paying rent which was taken from their pay cheques. The workers told investigators they feared they could not leave and were coerced to stay.

• Related | Human trafficking victims forced to live in cold basement with no running water, Ontario police say

“[They were] brought to Canada with the idea that they would have proper accommodations, as well as proper salary - a living wage, so to speak - and that did not come to fruition for them,” said former Det. Insp. Jordan Whitesell of the Ontario Provincial Police.

Investigators believed the men were transported across Canada from Sault Ste. Marie to North Bay as well as Quebec and Red Deer, Alberta, and were hired through a subcontractor to work in places such as recycling facilities which investigators said were not aware they were employing victims of alleged human trafficking.

Records from the Ministry of Labour also show Olvera was fined $355 for failing to produce records or provide assistance.

The OPP did not respond to requests for comment and directed any inquiries to the Ministry of the Attorney General. A staying of charges by the Crown means the prosecution has one year to resume its case.