The average annual rent on a lease in a Mennonite farm house in Virginia is $1,313 for a studio, $1,728 for a one-bedroom and $2,729 for a two-bedroom.
That staggering rent, officials say, is the product of human trafficking.
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A lawyer for 90 state and federal officials who specialize in fighting human trafficking called the practice a “modern day form of slavery” Thursday in announcing charges that two men were living in a well-appointed farmhouse on Mennonite farm land but were doing so as part of a cruel trafficking scheme.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., attorneys alleged Stephen Robert Houck and Michael O. Reiter lived as guests in the house for years while paying them only about $100 a month in rent and not paying for room and board. Instead, they repeatedly forced the men into involuntary servitude, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit cites trips that Houck made with the men to Southern cities like New Orleans to make money in the human-trafficking business. The men were held against their will, barred from leaving and regularly beaten, the lawsuit said.
Houck, a 53-year-old farmer, and Reiter, 53, both of Alexandria, ran a property management company called US Farm Management, prosecutors said. Houck owned or rented about 40 homes for residents on the Mennonite-owned land, according to the lawsuit.
The relationship began in 2013, when Houck hired the men to rent rooms in his house, investigators said. Over the course of several years, they were charged about $750,000 for rent and expenses, according to the lawsuit. Houck and Reiter allegedly forced the men to pay for food and, on occasion, drove them to bank deposits. Instead of paying the rent, Houck and Reiter kept the money, depositing it in their own accounts and spending it on themselves, the lawsuit said.
“They acted as if they were my landlords, even though they had no interest in paying my rent and no intention of ever employing me,” one of the men said in a statement. “They demanded cash, sometimes on multiple occasions, from me. They brutalized me with verbal and physical abuse and forced me to work for nothing while they lived in luxury. They made me sleep in an old car, and stole my cellular telephone when I tried to contact my family. They humiliated me and ruined my self-esteem. It was the worst time of my life.”
The lawsuit claims Houck and Reiter were working in conjunction with a person in a third country. Officials did not say how that person was connected. The men did not report any of their abuse to law enforcement authorities because they believed they would be in danger if they did, according to the lawsuit.
“We have worked on animal trafficking for more than 50 years and have prosecuted dozens of cases, but until now, we were not aware of humans being trafficked,” said John Shattuck, one of the attorneys involved in the case. “This house was put on our radar last year, which is when we discovered that the houses were not rented to Mennonites and that the property management company owned by Houck was owned by Reiter. This is a horrific and heart-breaking experience, and we are committed to bringing justice to those wronged.”
When interviewed by The Washington Post in May, Houck said he worked to help animal agriculture. Reiter ran his own company, Agents of Authenticity.
Houck and Reiter were charged with the felony offense of human trafficking and misdemeanor charges of forced labor and other related crimes. If convicted, they could face up to life in prison. The two men are set to be arraigned March 4, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.