Mexican Woman Escapes from Laundry Where She Was Forced to Work for 2 Years

MEXICO CITY – A 22-year-old woman managed to escape from the Mexico City laundry where she was chained, beaten and forced to work for two years, the Federal District Attorney’s Office said.

The unidentified woman applied for a job at the business in Lomas de Padierna, a district in the southern Mexico City borough of Tlalpan, and “was chained by her employers, and to make her keep working they beat her until she bled, and when the cuts started to heal they tore off the scabs,” the DA’s office said.

“That allowed them to hold her for two years until she managed to escape and seek help. The Federal District Attorney’s Office requested search warrants for the establishment, where they arrested the five people likely responsible” for keeping the woman as a slave, prosecutors said.

The suspects have been identified as Jose de Jesus Sanchez Vera, Leticia Molina Ochoa, Fani Molina Ochoa, Ivette Hernandez Molina and Jannet Hernandez Molina, the DA’s office said.

“This is the first case of this kind to occur in Mexico City,” the DA’s office said.

The victim told investigators that she was fed a small amount of food once a day and chewed on the plastic bags used to cover garments to stave off hunger, prosecutors said.