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Carnival owner facing human trafficking charges

An owner of the carnival working at the 2021 Great Northern Fair is facing human trafficking-related charges in Utah.

Midway West Amusements owner Jordan Jensen of Gilbert, Arizona, was charged in Utah with three counts of human trafficking and nine counts of possession of another’s identity documents.

The trafficking charges are second degree felonies and the documents charges are third degree felonies.

Utah Attorney General’s Office spokesperson Richard Piatt said this morning that Jensen made an initial court appearance Monday and was released on strict conditions including wearing a GPS ankle monitor, having no contact with victims, witnesses and employees of the business except for his family members, not being allowed to travel with the business and being on $25,000 bail.

He also signed a waiver of extradition so if he absconds the Utah authorities can pick him up anywhere and he cannot fight extradition, Piatt said.

Jensen’s next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 23.

A press release from the attorney’s office said law enforcement was alerted that Midway West was illegally inducing more than 20 Mexican nationals to work for the company’s travelling carnival. All the workers were legally in the United States, with H2B visas and passports that had been kept from them to keep them from leaving the group.

All the victims were safe under the supervision of the Mexican Consulate at the time the release was issued.

The release said two Mexican nationals, who escaped from the company, contacted the Mexican Consulate, and provided information about the alleged crimes.  The victims said Midway West Amusements kept their visas and passports from them to prevent the people from leaving; essentially holding their legal status in the United States hostage. 

A charging document says the two Mexican nationals said were hired to work 40-hour weeks but, immediately after the start of their employment, they worked extremely long hours, approximately 70 hours a week, without water or meal breaks. They lived in a confined space inside of a mobile trailer without running water, electricity, or air conditioning. Some of the trailers contained a bed, some did not. The two said they had no kitchen to cook a meal. Both victims reported they were not allowed to leave their working area.

Many times the owners of the business would not give them water or allow them to take a water break for an entire shift, and by the end of a shift they were extremely hungry and thirsty, the document says. They reported that the owners, Jordan Jensen in particular, would constantly threaten to send them back to Mexico if they did not perform their job well and without complaint.

 

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