Think slavery is dead? Think again. Human trafficking is its new incarnation, and it’s spreading.
Maude Paulin, a 52-year-old former school teacher from Miami-Dade County, has been arrested for forcing a young Haitian girl into slavery for six years. Simone Celestin, the Haitian woman, was brought to the US in 1999 at age 14 and managed to escape six years later, in 2005.
Maude Paulin forced Simone Celestin to work 15 hours a day and sleep on the floor- to the point that Celestin says she considered killing herself. Maude Paulin was sentenced to seven years in prison, while her ex-husband was sentenced to house arrest.
Bizarrely, Maude Paulin is on the board of a Haitian charity called Foundation Diomede D.Theodeore.
Maude Paulin insists "I love Simone with all my heart," but said she "regret[s]" what she did.
Her daughter Erica Paulin said "My mother is an inspiration to her friends and her family, to so many people. She is not a monster."
But prosecutor Edward Chung emphasized that "Maude Paulin does not to this day acknowledge that she committed this crime," adding that the offense demanded a serious punishment.