Me love you long time. The nail salon owner poured acetone on her employee’s head in a $180,000 forced servitude scheme
After a five-day trial, a federal jury in Charlotte, North Carolina found Thuy Tien Luong, 37, guilty of forced labor on January 8, 2021. Thuy compelled the labor of one of her nail technicians at a nail salon she owned and operated in Davidson, North Carolina.
A federal court found that Thuy forced physical violence on her employee, a fabricated $180,000 debt, paycheck confiscation, and threats of violence and reputational harm.
Thuy owned a nail salon in Davidson, NC and treated her employee as a modern day slave.
Evidence presented at trial established that Thuy compelled her female employee into a forced labor scheme from October 2016 to June 2018 through a variety of coercive means at Thuy’s nail salon. Thuy physically assaulted the victim on several occasions, including pulling her hair out, stabbing her with nail salon tools, and pouring acetone on her head.
Thuy also threatened to ruin the victim’s reputation with her family by threatening to tell them information about the victim which would negatively impact the victim’s relationship with her family.
Thuy falsely claimed that the victim owed her a debt of $180,000, and falsely alleged that the victim’s poor work performance caused Thuy to lose this amount of money. Thuy even executed a debt contract with the victim in the amount of $180,000, and threatened to send the victim to jail if she did not repay all of it.
In reality, the victim was a good employee. Thuy often treated the victim in a humiliating and demeaning fashion, all while having the victim work 10 hours a day for 6 to 7 days a week. The totality of Thuy’s coercive scheme caused the victim to fear Thuy and forced her to continue working for her until a particularly violent assault led to the victim reporting Thuy to the Davidson Police Department.
Thuy was arrested in June 2018. Thuy was found guilty 2 years after her arrest.
A sentencing date has not been scheduled at this time, Thuy faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
