FORT LAUDERDALE - A federal grand jury indicted a couple Tuesday on charges of sneaking a Haitian girl into the United States and keeping her in virtual slavery in their home for three years.
If convicted, Willie and Marie Pompee of Pembroke Pines could each be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $250,000, plus restitution to the victim.
Marie Pompee made her initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Her husband and his eldest son have fled the country.
According to the indictment, the Pompees concealed the girl from 1996 to 1999, when she was removed from the home. The girl, then 12, had told a teacher she was being sexually abused.
The girl was used as a household servant, according to the indictment. She and her mother had done similar work for Marie Pompee's mother and sister in Haiti.
Between 18,000 and 20,000 people are trafficked into the United States for sexual exploitation or forced labor each year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Pace of spring break alcohol arrests is up
TALLAHASSEE - State beverage agents have made 2,205 arrests for underage drinking and alcohol sales to minors in only two weeks at four leading spring break destinations across Florida.
That compares with about 3,000 arrests during all of spring break in 2003. Spring break lasts through mid April.
Agents from the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco also have seized hundreds of fake identification cards, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation reported Tuesday. Florida's legal drinking age is 21.
The most arrests in the first two weeks were at Panama City Beach, with 895, followed by Daytona Beach, 790; Key West, 344, and Fort Lauderdale, 176.
Police say boy, 5, brought marijuana to kindergarten
MIAMI - Police say a 5-year-old boy brought a bag of marijuana to school and was sprinkling it over a friend's lasagna in the cafeteria when a monitor intervened.
It was unclear whether the kindergartener at Gratigny Elementary School knew what was in the bag.
Initially, the boy, who tried to hide the bag with his feet when the monitor approached him Monday, "may have said it was oregano," said Mayco Villafana, spokesman for Miami-Dade schools.
"The boy is not going to be charged," Villafana said. "The focus is on the child's environment and what issues could have led to a child having a bag of marijuana in school."
School police took the matter to the State Attorney's Office. The case was also referred to Florida's Department of Children and Families, Villafana said.
The boys were allowed to return to their kindergarten class. Both sets of parents were contacted. No names were released.
