June 16. US District Court Judge Kenneth D. Bell sentenced Thuy Tien Luong, the operator of a now-closed nail salon in Davidson, to 15 years in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered her to pay $75,000 in restitution to the victim.

A federal jury in Charlotte found her guilty of forced labor after finding that Luong “compelled the labor” of one of her nail technicians.

Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, said human trafficking was involved, as well as mental and physical abuse.

Preyed on employee

Luong preyed on the victim’s vulnerabilities for her own financial gains, according to US Attorney Andrew Murray. She physically assaulted the victim on several occasions, including pulling her hair out, stabbing her with nail salon tools, and pouring acetone on her head. Luong 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.

Luong falsely claimed that the victim owed her $180,000, and falsely alleged that the victim’s poor work performance caused Luong to lose this amount of money. Luong 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.

Good employee

In reality, the technician was a good employee.

The defendant’s scheme caused the victim to continue working until a particularly violent assault led her to report the defendant to the Davidson Police Department.

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the
National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888.