CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Months after 8News reported on “The Lovely Market” gas station knowingly selling contaminated gas, the owners are under fire again, facing multiple charges, including committing forced labor.
Following a two-week jury trial, the owners, 30-year-old Harmanpreet Singh and 43-year-old Kulbir Kaurbeen, were convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, harboring for financial gain, and document servitude.
According to evidence presented at trial, the pair brought the minor victim, Singh’s cousin, from India in 2018 promising a college education. However, documents reveal that the victim was forced to work at the store every day for 13 hours working as a cashier, preparing food, cleaning and managing store records.
Prosecutors said Singh and Kaur used various coercive means, including confiscating the victim’s immigration documents and physically abusing the victim, using threats of force and other serious harm and, at times, degrading living conditions, to compel him to work extensive hours for minimal pay.
A federal complaint stated that the victim was pulled by the hair, slapped, threatened with a revolver and forced to sleep on a mattress in the back of the convenience store with limited access to food and medication.
“These defendants engaged in an egregious bait-and-switch, luring the victim with false promises of an education in the United States and instead subjecting him to grueling hours, degrading living conditions, and a litany of mental and physical abuse,” said U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Prosecutors revealed that after arriving in the United States, Singh and Kaur took the victim’s immigration documents and threatened him for talking to customers.
In May of 2021, an individual noticed markings on the victim’s face and reported it to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
“These people forced this individual to work, forced labor, he was being threatened if he did not engage in that labor, and we can make the assumption he was not getting paid very well,” said 8News Legal Analyst Russ Stone. “It’s more like what you think of traditionally with human trafficking, there’s no sexual element, but there’s a forced labor element.”
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 8. Singh and Kaur face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and mandatory restitution for the forced labor charge.
A federal district court judge will determine sentencing.
