Former Forsyth deputy, wife plead guilty in illegal alien case

A former Forsyth County deputy and her husband pleaded guilty in federal court for harboring an illegal alien to work her as a nanny for little or no pay.

Woodstock residents Malika Garrett, 43, and her husband, Russell Garrett, also 43, a former Forsyth County deputh sheriff, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Orinda D. Evans to one count of harboring an alien for private financial gain. Malika Garrett also pleaded guilty to an additional count of making a false statement to the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said harboring illegal immigrant domestic workers to work for little or no money is a crime of greed depriving of their civil rights and often, as in this case, their freedom.

"Coercing such victims with threats of jail and deportation, and lying to federal agents, is also an abuse of the legal system. Regardless of their citizenship or immigration status, crime victims can bring their cases to federal officials without fear of reprisal," Nahmias said. "In fact, such victims may be eligible for special visas that allow them to remain in the United States and vindicate their civil rights."

The defendants took advantage of their nanny's undocumented immigration status for financial gain, said Loretta King, acting assistant attorney general of Civil Rights, at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

"They exploited her by not paying her and preying upon her fears of deportation," said King.

According to Nahmias and the information presented in court: Beginning in February 2003 and continuing through June 2005, Malika and Russell Garrett, knowing that the the victim, a female Indian national, had entered the United States under false pretenses, thereafter harbored her from detection, and attempted to do so, all for the purpose of their own private financial gain.

At their plea hearing, the Garretts admitted that they caused the victim to work as a nanny, for which the victim was initially underpaid, and then later not paid at all. The Garretts acknowledged that they told the victim that, if she left their home, she would be deported and jailed for an extended period of time – a condition that the defendants understood would cause great shame to the victim, a Muslim woman.

Ultimately the woman was able to escape from the Garrett's home with the assistance of a neighbor. At that point Malika Garrett threatened to, and did, both malign the victim to her family, and submit false allegations concerning the victim to Department of Homeland Security officials. Malika Garrett also admitted that she lied, when questioned by special agents of the FBI and ICE, by denying that the defendants ever employed the victim as a nanny. Relating to the case, Russell Garrett was relieved by his department of his duties as a deputy on July 24, 2008.

Sentencing for the Garretts is scheduled for April 22 at 3 p.m., before Judge Evans. Malika Garrett faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison on the alien harboring and false statement charges. Russell Garrett faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison on the alien harboring charge.

This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the FBI and ICE.

It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Susan Coppedge and Richard S. Moultrie, Jr. and Trial Attorney Kathleen J. Monaghan of the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

More local news available at www.northfulton.com.

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