Man forced migrants to work on farms, raped teen in NY, feds say. He gets prison
A man convicted of forcing Guatemalan migrants to work for him on farms in western New York, and kidnapping a 16-year-old girl who he is accused of repeatedly raping, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
Augusto Mateo Francisco, 34, of Dunkirk, was sentenced on two counts of forced labor, and one count of transportation of a minor, following his conviction on all counts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York said in a Sept. 19 news release.
“His labor trafficking victims were forced to work long hours doing menial labor while (he) profited off their blood, sweat, and tears,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing motion filed by the government. “And any time they pushed back or questioned him; he would threaten their lives. And if that weren’t enough, he would cowardly threaten their families back home in Guatemala.”
“He also preyed on them sexually,” the filing continues, referring to the 16-year-old girl who prosecutors said Francisco brought to the U.S. from Guatemala with her mother.
Francisco’s court-appointed federal public defender, John Joseph Morrissey, did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Sept. 22.
U.S. Homeland Security Investigations opened a sex and labor trafficking investigation into Francisco in the Dunkirk area in December 2021, according to prosecutors, who said he was suspected of trafficking offenses from 2018 to 2020. Dunkirk is a city located along lake Erie, about a 45-mile drive southwest from Buffalo.
Francisco, who is originally from Guatemala and is a legal U.S. resident, helped Guatemalan migrants enter the U.S. and travel to the area of Dunkirk, where he gave them housing and had them work at local farms, prosecutors said.
Before they agreed to the work, Francisco told them how much they would be paid and what they would owe for transportation and other costs, according to the sentencing motion.
But he lied to them and increased the amounts of money they owed once they were in New York, prosecutors wrote in the filing.
Francisco had total control over their money, as he received their wages in cash and would take cuts from their pay before giving them what remained, according to prosecutors.
He threatened to call immigration authorities on two labor trafficking victims, warning that they could be deported, and said he would hurt their families if they refused to continue working for him or didn’t pay him money he claimed they owed, according to prosecutors.
Francisco also “pursued a sexual relationship” with a teen who came to the U.S. from Guatemala with her mother, prosecutors said, McClatchy News reported.
Like other migrants, Francisco recruited the mother and daughter for work, according to the sentencing motion.
After the girl’s mother became sick and needed surgery, prosecutors said Francisco isolated her, forced her to work for him, and started repeatedly sexually abusing her when she was 15. This went on until she was 16, according to prosecutors.
In May 2020, Francisco kidnapped the teen and kept her inside a trailer in Ripley, about 25 miles southwest of Dunkirk, for nearly two weeks before police rescued her, prosecutors said.
“He repeatedly raped her over a period of days” inside the trailer, where he would tell her to hide from authorities inside a cutout area in the floor of the trailer, according to prosecutors.
After the girl’s mother regained her health, she fled New York with her daughter and went to Georgia to escape Francisco, prosecutors said.
But Francisco followed them there and abducted the teen a second time, according to prosecutors.
He brought her back to his trailer in Ripley, New York, and raped her several more times before law enforcement rescued her again, prosecutors said.
“Like with his labor trafficking victims, (Francisco) cowardly threatened (the teen), her mother, and her family back in Guatemala if she reported his crimes or if she resisted him,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing motion.
In a sentencing memo on Francisco’s behalf, Morrissey sought a lesser sentence of 15 years in prison. He wrote that Francisco accepted responsibility by pleading guilty in the case and that he was regretful.
The judge ultimately sided with the prosecution team’s request for a 30-year sentence.
“(Francisco) treated people — human beings — like they were farm animals,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing motion.
Francisco’s prison sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was also ordered to pay restitution and register as a sex offender.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Man forced migrants to work on farms, raped teen in NY, feds say. He gets prison."
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