Omaha attorney Stu Dornan is one of two lawyers representing a husband and wifeaccused of forcing a Laotian man and woman into indentured servitude, or peonage.
On Monday morning, the Laotian man testified that the Omaha couple helped him travel from Laos to the United States. Once here, he was fed, housed and offered work by the Omaha couple. If he did not “obey,” he testified, the couple said he could be “sent back.” His testimony was expected to continue Monday afternoon.
A search of World-Herald archives turned up no cases of peonage in Nebraska.
That didn't surprise Dornan, a former Douglas County attorney and former FBI agent.
"Because of the lack of federal cases filed, I had trouble even finding jury instructions," Dornan said.
"I certainly had to refresh my recollection of what (peonage) charges exactly consisted of, what the elements of the crimes consisted of."
Edward and Amphayvanh Alstatt, owners of Nictalgie Boutique & Tailors, 5094 S. 108th St., are charged in U.S. District Court with conspiracy to commit peonage, human trafficking and document servitude.
Peonage refers to the practice of forced servitude or partial slavery until debts are paid.
While peonage cases are rare, "I suspect this might be much more common among recent immigrants that are not familiar with our laws,'' said Marianne Culhane, dean of the Creighton University Law School. "That is a very vulnerable population to this kind of abuse."
Dornan said the Alstatts have helped hundreds of people through the immigration process.
He said of the government's case against his clients: "There is an issue of when and where this alleged indentured servitude or document servitude occurred."
The grand jury indictment signed by U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg alleges that the Alstatts ran the scheme for more than three years. Court testimony also indicated that federal investigators ran an undercover operation to obtain evidence against the couple.
The trial is expected to wrap up this week.
During court testimony, the Alstatts were shown on a 2008 video — taken in their small office in a strip mall near 108th and Q Streets — giving a Laotian national his green card and passport.
Music blares and there's laughter in the background. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers watched the exchange using a hidden camera carried by the Laotian.
The couple are accused of withholding Ae Xaypanya's passport and resident alien card until he signed a contract promising to pay $9,000 at 5 percent monthly interest. The indictment also says the Alstatts used the threat of "serious harm" should the debt go unpaid.
Luck brought Xaypanya from Laos to America. He won the right to come to the United States through the State Department's diversity visa lottery for countries that have a low immigrant population in the country.
Immigration service officer Joann Howe testified last week that the process, which includes fees for applications, medical exams and background checks, typically costs $1,100 to $1,400.
The debt contract for Xaypanya was nearly 20 times that amount, after adding in interest.
Prosecutors said Edward Alstatt had a joint bank account with Xaypanya, that Alstatt withdrew $2,500 in cash and transferred $1,000 out of the account. Xaypanya was left with less than $100, according to ICE agent Charles Bautch.
Bautch testified that Edward Alstatt admitted to taking $3,000 from his joint account with Xaypanya, but he said it was because the man owed money for a car.
After Alstatt withdrew the cash, Xaypanya called Omaha police, who notified ICE and Bautch. Xaypanya was working at a Men's Wearhouse in Columbia, Mo. That company has not been charged in the case.
Bautch said an immigration records search revealed that about 120 people had listed the Alstatts' home address or business on immigration paperwork.
Bautch said the U.S. Embassy in Laos confirmed that Amphayvanh Alstatt, a Laotian refugee who came to the United States in the 1980s, helped a number of Laotian nationals come to the country, including all nine of the diversity visa winners in 2007.
A search warrant executed on the Alstatts' home and business in April 2009 revealed other debt contracts, immigration forms, blank Laotian birth certificates, identification documents of another Laotian and files labeled with the names of immigrants.
ICE agents also discovered that Amphayvanh Alstatt had joint bank accounts with four other Laotian immigrants. One of those was with Noy Vila, also a diversity visa winner.
According to the indictment, the Alstatts forced Vila to hand over her green card, passport and Social Security card and to work without pay in the couple's tailor shop. She also worked at a Men's Wearhouse.
Vila's passport was found in a search of the couple's home.
Bautch said $4,500 was withdrawn from Vila's account and $4,900 deposited into the Alstatts' personal account on the same day in October 2008.
Amphayvanh Alstatt also is charged with making false statements. Prosecutors said she knowingly lied on an application for naturalization on behalf of a Laotian national.
The trial resumes Monday with the defense getting a chance to cross-examine Xaypanya.
A Laotian immigrant at the center of an indentured servitude case testified that at times he felt like a dog being led around by the Omaha couple accused of peonage.
But Stu Dornan, the attorney representing the husband and wife, painted Ae Xaypanya as more of a stray animal who was taken in and pampered.
Edward and Amphayvanh Alstatt, owners of Nictalgie Boutique & Tailors, 5094 S. 108th St., are charged in U.S. District Court with conspiracy to commit peonage, human trafficking and document servitude. "Peonage" refers to the practice of forced servitude or partial slavery until debts are paid.
On Monday, a week into the rare case, the prosecution rested its case and Dornan laid out his defense.
The Alstatts were too "kind-hearted" and "altruistic," Dornan said in his opening statement.
"No good deed goes unpunished," he said, describing Amphayvanh Alstatt as a refugee from Laos who arrived in the U.S. about 30 years ago.
She has a passion for helping other Laotians immigrate and facilitated Xaypanya's immigration process, including traveling with him and his wife from Laos to Omaha, Dornan said. The Alstatts also paid Xaypanya's moving costs.
For all this, Dornan said, the Alstatts "only expected that at some point they would be paid back. That may sound too altruistic, but it's the case."
The couple are accused of withholding Xaypanya's passport and resident alien card until he signed a contract promising to pay $9,000 at 5 percent monthly interest. The indictment also says the Alstatts used the threat of "serious harm" should the debt go unpaid.
Xaypanya testified that Amphayvanh Alstatt told him at least twice that if he didn't listen to her and obey, she could send him back to Laos.
Dornan said the Alstatts only wanted to help someone in need. When Xaypanya went to Omaha with the Alstatts instead of staying with his wife's family in Minnesota, the Alstatts fed and housed him, offered him work, taught him a trade and took him on trips, Dornan said.
"How many slaves do you take on a ski trip?" he asked.
Xaypanya testified that he was in possession of his green card until he gave it to Amphayvanh Alstatt for safekeeping.
According to prosecutors, Xaypanya was forced to sign a debt contract if he wanted to get his green card back. The Alstatts also are accused of holding Xaypanya's passport and Social Security card.
The debt contract was for $9,000 plus 5 percent monthly interest payments. Dornan said $3,000 of that was for a car the Alstatts sold to Xaypanya.
Police and immigration agents began investigation in late 2008 when Edward Alstatt withdrew $2,500 and transferred $1,000 out of his joint bank account with Xaypanya.
When immigration enforcement agents raided the Alstatts home and business, they discovered files containing debt contracts with several other Laotian immigrants, records of payments, evidence of at least four other bank accounts that the Alstatts shared with other Laotian immigrants and hundreds of immigrations-related forms and documents, said federal immigration agent Charles Bautch.
