Maryland Woman Indicted for Alien Harboring and Withholding Immigration Documents to Maintain
Labor and Services of Zimbabwean National

Friday, June 29, 2018

An indictment was unsealed today in the U.S. District Court of Maryland charging Shingaizdo
Nhekairo, 49, of Arnold, Maryland, with one count of alien harboring for financial gain and one
count of unlawful conduct with respect to immigration documents. The indictment was announced by
Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
and U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur.

According to the indictment, between 2006 and 2014, the defendant harbored the victim, a national
of Zimbabwe. The indictment further alleges that the defendant concealed the victim's
immigration status for purposes of financial gain and confiscated the victim's passport to
maintain her labor and services.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven
guilty. If convicted of alien harboring, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in
prison. The crime of unlawful conduct with respect to immigration documents carries a maximum
sentence of one year in prison and requires mandatory restitution.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland
Security Investigations Baltimore Division, with assistance from the Department of Labor's Wage
and Hour Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ayn Ducao of the
District of Maryland and Trial Attorneys Vasantha Rao and Emily Savner of the Civil Rights
Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

