Michael Allen Lee, an African-American labor contractor, was the leader of the "Lee Operation." Lee and his conspirators, William Oscar Smith, and Billy C. Rankin recruited homeless and drug dependent African-American men from around Fort Pierce, Florida, as agricultural farm workers. In exchange for picking oranges, the workers were given loans extended by Lee, for rent, food, cigarettes, and crack cocaine. The workers were paid only about thirty-five to fifty dollars a week, thirty of which went to Lee for their rented space on his floor. After incurring debts that they were unable to repay, the workers became indebted to Lee. Along with their indebtedness, Lee used force and the threat of force to keep the men working for him against their will.
Location
United States · Fort Pierce, FL · 1997
(location generalized to protect survivors) Response & intervention
Lee was arrested in late 2000 and in February 2001 he pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of involuntary servitude. Lee was sentenced four years in prison and three years of supervised release. The case was investigated by the Miami Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and prosecuted by the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Florida.
In April of 1997, George Williams, an African-American farm worker and a victim of the "Lee Operation," reported the operation to St. Lucie county sheriff's deputies. After leaving the operation without fully paying off his debts to Lee, Williams was hunted down by defendants Lee and Smith. The two defendants confronted Williams about his unpaid loans and drove him back to Lee's residence where he was beaten in front of other "Lee Operation" farm workers. Following the assault, Williams escaped Lee's 49th Street residence in Fort Pierce, Florida and reported Lee to the local police department.
Seventeen victims of the "Lee Operation" were represented by the Florida Rural Legal Services in a federal lawsuit filed in West Palm Beach in 1997. The lawsuit alleged numerous violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Agricultural Worker Protection Act. The lawsuit was resolved by a settlement agreement in 1999, however the terms of the settlement are confidential. Some of the victims received civil legal assistance from the Florida Rural Legal Services, but none of them received any kind of aftercare from another agency.
Florida Rural Legal Services.
The incident was revealed by one of the victims, George Williams, who reported the incident to the local police department.
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