JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A woman in Florida was sentenced to seven years in prison for the forced labor of a Mexican woman she hired as a pregnancy surrogate.
Esthela Clark also faces deportation to Mexico after serving the sentence she received Thursday in federal court in Jacksonville. She is a legal permanent resident.
Clark pleaded guilty last year. Federal prosecutors say she traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico where she met the victim in 2012, promising her thousands of dollars once a baby was born.
The woman was smuggled into the United States, and after she arrived in Jacksonville, Clark repeatedly tried to inseminate her with sperm retrieved from her boyfriend’s condoms with a syringe.
Prosecutors say when that method failed, Clark forced the woman to have unprotected sex with strangers. She never became pregnant.
