WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
Two people connected to a labor-trafficking situation in Three Rivers waived preliminary examination and were bound over to stand trial in St. Joseph County District Court this week.
According to a media release issued by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Ikbahl Machhal and Shila Devi, both of Three Rivers, appeared in court Monday.
Machhal is the victim’s husband.
Machhal, 40, and Devi, 66, are charged with one count each of human trafficking – forced labor, and one count of human trafficking enterprise.
Each count is a 10-year felony, according to Nessel.
The defendants were charged in April after allegedly trafficking the victim since 2012. The victim was forced to move to Three Rivers and work at Broadway Market after her father-in-law and mother-in-law purchased the market.
Authorities allege the victim was never paid despite working eight to nine hours a day, seven days a week against her will and under threat of physical, mental and emotional abuse over the course of about eight years.
She was able to leave her home with assistance from YWCA Kalamazoo and local law-enforcement authorities in October 2020.
A date has not yet been set for the suspects, according to the media release.
