Woman rescued after being held captive in closet for a year
RICHMOND, Calif. » Authorities said Wednesday they rescued a human trafficking victim who told police she was kept in a closet and sexually and physically abused almost daily for a year.
The woman was discovered when police and Homeland Security agents raided a Richmond home earlier this week.
Eulogio Constantino-Suarez, 35, of Richmond, has been booked on suspicion of kidnapping, rape, corporal injury, false imprisonment and conspiracy, the Richmond Police Department said in a statement.
A second man was arrested in the case but authorities didn’t release any information about him.
It’s unclear whether Constantino-Suarez is represented by a lawyer who could comment on the arrest.
Police said Constantino-Suarez met the woman on Facebook about a year ago and lured her from Nicaragua with promises of work and a better life in the U.S.
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Instead, she said she was held captive and abused in the home about 20 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Richmond police said they were alerted about the woman by a Homeland Security agent and by an advocacy group the woman had contacted.
Officers were able to contact the woman by phone and determine her location.
Homeland Security said in a statement it is working closely with Richmond police investigators "in an ongoing probe into a possible case of forced servitude."