Three siblings were taken out of school to bake and sell brownies — seven days a week — outside various businesses to “sustain the family” in Louisiana, according to court documents.
Their stepfather, Darnell Fulton, 38, of Pineville, forced them to work for his brownie-making business through violence, sexual abuse, keeping food from them, degradation and intimidation, federal prosecutors said.
When Fulton wasn’t pleased with the children’s “work performance,” he’d assault them, according to prosecutors. The violence they endured included waterboarding and getting whipped with a belt, prosecutors said.
In the case’s latest development, Fulton was sentenced to 35 years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit forced labor and transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana announced in a May 19 news release.
The judge also ordered Fulton to pay $979,800 in restitution to his victims, prosecutors said.
“Forced labor, especially when it involves sexual abuse of children, violence, and mental and physical anguish, is heinous conduct that has no place in our society today,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The defendant mercilessly exploited children for his own financial gain and personal gratification, and we will not tolerate it.”
McClatchy News contacted Fulton’s attorney for comment on May 22 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
His sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to the charges against him in November, McClatchy News previously reported.
‘Form of modern-day slavery’
Fulton forced his stepchildren to work for him and hand over all profits they made by selling brownies from June 2016 to May 2019, according to prosecutors. At the time, two of his stepchildren were younger than 16, while one was younger than 12, the indictment says. Their biological father was deceased.
He had married the children’s mother and had two children of his own with her, according to the indictment. However, his biological children were not forced to work for him.
Fulton’s stepchildren would work late into the night making brownies and would be forced to travel to 20 to 30 different locations each day to sell them, prosecutors said.
They sold brownies outside different plazas, car dealerships, law firms, restaurants and parking lots — all while having to meet Fulton’s daily sales quota, according to prosecutors.
Despite how much the children worked, they would hardly be allowed breaks, officials said. If they failed to sell enough brownies, they’d be assaulted, according to prosecutors.
One method of assault was Fulton forcing his stepchildren “to stay in a push up or plank position for hours,” prosecutors said.
When a child was unable to stay frozen in that position, Fulton would whip them with a belt, according to officials.
Fulton made his stepchildren fear “serious harm” would follow if they stopped working for him, the indictment says.
In addition to the forced labor, Fulton also had his stepchildren “perform sexual acts with him” and brought them outside Louisiana to do so, according to prosecutors.
“Forced labor is a form of modern-day slavery and we have a duty to protect the most vulnerable of our society,” U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown for the Western District of Louisiana said in a statement. “He had no hesitation in torturing and demoralizing these victims, his own children.”
Forced labor is also a form of human trafficking, which can be carried out by “strangers, acquaintances or even family members,” according to the Justice Department.