“This is the most significant labor trafficking prosecution in this district in many years.” – Robert Brewer, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of California in San Diego (photo, left)

By Miriam Raftery

IVM Indictment - Click HERE

September 11, 2019 (San Diego) --  A dozen leaders of Imperial Valley Ministries, including the former pastor, are charged with subjecting dozens of mostly homeless people to forced labor, an indictment unsealed today reveals. Victims in San Diego and Imperial Counties were coerced to surrender welfare benefits and compelled to panhandle up to nine hours a day, six days a week, for the financial benefit of the church leaders, prosecutors allege.