IRON COUNTY, Utah, Sept. 14, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Dayer LeBaron and spouse Jolene Stubbs have been arrested for alleged human trafficking for labor after Iron County deputies say they arranged for a father, mother and their 15-year-old daughter from Mexico to come to the U.S. to work in their pine nut harvesting operation.
“Stubbs arranged for the Mexican male (the father) to enter the United States illegally and work in Nevada and Utah. While in Mexico, Stubbs hired a guide (coyote) to accompany the male from Mexico into the United States,” her affidavit says.
The mother said Stubbs, 53, “promised to give her money and help them establish residency in the United States if her family worked through the end of August.”
LeBaron, 61, who has dual citizenship in Mexico and the United States, met the Mexican man after hiring him to make repairs on the LeBaron residence in Chihuahua, Mexico. The man had recently been deported from the U.S., the statement says.
“Stubbs stated she gave the male Mexican money for guides, food, and clothing totaling more than $3,000, which she expected the Mexican male would pay back in labor picking pine nuts in the United States.”
But the mother told law enforcement officers that after the family entered the United States, and again after August, “Stubbs recanted and extended the offer if the mother and her family stayed until the end of November to January.”
“Once the juvenile daughter’s family arrived in Beryl, Utah, the mother told Stubbs numerous times she wanted to leave,” Stubbs’ affidavit says.
“According to the mother, Stubbs told the mother she was not allowed to leave until the debt they had accumulated had been resolved, and if the mother did go, she would be deprived of her husband and the children,” it says.
The teen daughter was transported to Elko, Nevada, to sell pine nuts, and was taken without parental permission, the mother later told deputies.
The incident came to light after one of the family’s two young sons required hospitalization for respiratory distress, and officials called law enforcement to investigate possible child neglect. The mother told deputies that Stubbs would not allow their daughter to come to the hospital.
“The mother stated Stubbs threatened to keep her juvenile daughter if she did not return from the hospital.”
LeBaron and Stubbs both were arrested Thursday, each for investigation of two counts of human trafficking for labor, a second-degree felony. In addition, Stubbs was arrested for investigation of kidnapping, also a second-degree felony.
Both were ordered held without bail in the Iron County jail.
