Couple Conceals Immigrant

A couple brought a woman from Sri Lanka to New Jersey to care for one of their children for $300 per week, but instead held her captive in their home for two years, forcing her to work more than 16 hours a day for no pay, authorities charged.

Authorities announced Tuesday that Maher and Manal Jishi of Washington Township had been charged in U.S. District Court on Tuesday with conspiring to conceal an alien.

Maher Jishi, president of Mount Laurel-based Jonathan's Computer Centers Inc., was arrested Monday at Newark Liberty Airport after he had gotten off a plane from London, authorities said.

Officials said his wife and their three children remain outside the United States.

Authorities said Chandra Bulathwatte, identified in the criminal complaint as C.B., was promised $300 per week when she was hired through a placement agency in Qatar. The plan was that the 45-year-old would help around the Jishi home for three months.

Instead, authorities said, she was not paid at all except for a few small holiday gifts and was not allowed to leave the Jishi home, even to get the mail or take out the trash.

According to the criminal complaint, she overheard a conversation between her alleged captors in February and believed they were planning to kill her.

She fled and ran to the home of a neighbor who called police.

The Jishis fled the country in early March, authorities said.

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Author: NBC10/AP