A 32-year-old Dunkirk man is facing a four-count federal indictment on charges that include forced labor, kidnapping of a minor and the transportation of a minor for the purpose of illegal sexual activity.

In a news release Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Augusto Mateo Francisco facilitated the illegal entry of Guatemalan migrants into the United States and helped transport them to the Dunkirk area, where he would provide them with housing and work at area farms. Francisco allegedly charged the migrants for their housing, rides to work and for other items. He would also take a cut of the wages they earned working at the farms.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Francisco threatened two individuals, telling them that if they stopped working for him, or if they did not pay back the money they purportedly owed to him, he would harm their families or would call immigration authorities and have them deported.

In addition, Francisco is accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant who had come to the U.S. with her mother. Francisco repeatedly raped the minor, while also threatening to harm her siblings who were still in Guatemala if she told anyone about what had happened.

In May 2020, Francisco is accused of abducting the minor and taking her to a trailer in Ripley where she was held for nearly two weeks until she was rescued by police.

Following her rescue, the minor and her mother fled to Georgia. However, Francisco reportedly followed them and the kidnapped the minor, bringing her back to Western New York, where he unlawfully held her for several more days, until she was again rescued by police.

Francisco was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy; he was being held pending a detention hearing next Wednesday.

The charges carry a minimum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.