By Balitang America Staff

LOS ANGELES – Filipino couple Maximo and Melinda Morales, who pled guilty last May to felony charges of harboring undocumented immigrants, could go to jail for at least a year and half and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Prosecutors say Morales brought caregivers from the Philippines through transit visas and abused these workers, who were given little or no pay and threatened with retaliation against them and their families if they tried to leave.

Prosecutors are asking for a penalty of 21 months of prison, 3 years of supervised release and over $700,000 USD of restitution to the victims.

The Morales couple will be sentenced next month.