Imprisoned Restaurant Owner Who Enslaved Black Man With Mental Disability Ordered To Pay $550K
Back in November 2019, we reported that a white restaurant owner, who enslaved a Black man with a mental disability, was sentenced to ten years in prison. Now, that imprisoned owner has been ordered to pay $550K to that same man he abused and forced to work for free.
On April 21, 2021, 56-year-old Bobby Paul Edwards — who previously plead guilty to one count of of forced labor at J&J Cafeteria in South Carolina — was ordered to pay his former employee John Christopher Smith, 43, $546,000. Originally, Edwards was to pay $273,000 in unpaid wages and overtime compensation, but federal prosecutors appealed the decision and argued for more money due to the delay in payment.
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In addition to be forced to work for free as a cook, Smith was forced to work over 100 hours a week and would be beaten with belts, pots, pans and fists. It’s reported that Smith had worked at J&J since 1990, when he was 12, and the his slavedriver boss originally pleaded guilty in 2019 to not paying Edwards between 2009-2014.
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