Advertisement Word of Faith trafficked Brazilians for slave labor, the AP reports ‘They kept us as slaves,’ former member tells the AP Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, North Carolina, imported young Brazilians who were then forced to work for the church without pay, according to an Associated Press investigation reported in the Raleigh New & Observer.The Associated Press investigation found that Word of Faith Fellowship used its two church branches in Brazil to import a steady stream of young laborers. The Brazilians, who often spoke little English, were brought in on tourist and work visas, many of which were then seized by the church, according to the AP.One teenage boy told the AP, “They kept us as slaves.”He said he was forced to work 15 hours a day cleaning warehouses and then at businesses owned by the church’s senior ministers, according to the report in the News & Observer. He told the AP he was usually required to work without pay, and that any violation of the rules would lead to punishments ranging from being shamed from the pulpit to beatings.The AP obtained a recording of a 2014 meeting in which three former congregants told an assistant U.S. attorney that Brazilians were being forced to work without pay.The stories of forced labor are the latest in an ongoing investigation that the AP says is exposing decades of abuse at Word of Faith Fellowship, founded in 1979 by Jane Whaley, a former math teacher, and her husband, Sam.Based on the AP’s exclusive interviews with 43 former members, documents and secretly made recordings, the AP reported in February that congregants were regularly punched and choked to "purify" sinners by beating out devils.Another AP report said congregants were ordered by church leaders to lie to authorities investigating reports of abuse.The AP reporters said they made repeated attempts to obtain comments from church leaders in both countries on the allegations of forced labor, but they did not respond.The AP also reported that the church enticed Brazilian men whose visas had expired to stay in Spindale by marrying them off to American church members.It is illegal to enter a sham marriage for the purpose of avoiding U.S. immigration laws.The AP reported that Jill Rose, now the U.S. attorney in Charlotte, promised she would "take a fresh look" at allegations against the church, according to the recording. But the former members said she never responded when they repeatedly tried to contact her inthe months after the meeting.The AP said that Rose has declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.