Aurora Couple Accused Of Using Girls As Slaves Facing New Charges

AURORA, IL — An Aurora couple accused of keeping two Guatemalan girls as slaves is now facing more federal charges, according to prosecutors.

Santos Teodoro Ac-Salazar and Olga Choc Laj were charged in October with forced child labor after federal prosecutors alleged they made two young girls from Guatemala work various jobs and turn over all the money they earned as payment for smuggling them into the U.S.

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Ac-Salazar, 23, and Choc Laj, 30, were recently indicted on federal charges of conspiracy to conceal, harbor and shield the two girls from detection, said John Lausch, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Each faces additional harboring charges and a forced labor charge related to the younger girl, who was about 10 when she was brought to the U.S., according to federal prosecutors.

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The forced child labor charges brought against the couple in October were related to the older girl, who was about 15 when she came to the U.S. in February 2019, prosecutors said.

Choc Laj and the teenage girl moved to Aurora last year after the girl was told she could no longer work as a roofer in Florida because she was too young, prosecutors said in the federal indictment filed in October.

The girl, now 17, told authorities she was also forced to take jobs as a cleaner and factory worker to pay Choc Laj, Ac-Salazar and the couple's smugglers, according to court records.

She told authorities she wasn't allowed to attend school and couldn't leave the couple's Aurora home before paying off her debts. Prosecutors also allege the couple kept the younger girl, who is now about 11, from attending school until child-welfare officials visited their home in Aurora.

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Both girls were made clean the couple's home and care for the couple's baby after he was born in October 2019, prosecutors allege.

Choc Laj told authorities the teenage girl was her cousin, while Ac-Salazar said the younger girl was his adopted daughter, but both girls said they didn't know either of them before traveling to the U.S., court records state.

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Ac-Salazar pleaded guilty in September in Kane County court to aggravated battery of a child under 13, according to a report by the Chicago Sun-Times. He received a sentence of about eight months, which he had already served between his arrest and his guilty plea, the report states.

Ac-Salazar and Choc Laj are due to be arraigned on the new federal charges Wednesday morning.

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