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After nearly seven years of court battle, Filipino victims of labor trafficking at the Thatched Cottage in New York finally received the justice they deserved.

Their 67-year-old former employer, Ralph Colamussi, who pleaded guilty to forced labor, was sentenced to time served and at least $219,000 in restitution by a US federal court in Central Islip on Friday.

Colamussi is the owner of the Thatched Cottage, a historic catering and wedding venue in Centerport. Court records showed that he committed visa fraud and forced his Filipino workers to work under horrible conditions.

Colamussi further admitted that he threatened to report them to immigration authorities or cancel their visa sponsorship when workers complained about their poor working conditions or about not being paid properly.

"Yung judge, binigyan lang siya ng time served. He served ten months in prison, plus he was in an electronic monitoring device, house arrest for four years," Felix Vinluan, a legal counsel for the Filipino workers noted.

(The judge only sentenced him to time served.)

Meanwhile, Colamussi's Filipino manager and recruiter, Roberto Villanueva, was sentenced to six years in prison last Wednesday for his role in the forced labor conspiracy.

Colamussi and Villanueva lured Filipino immigrants to the US with false promises regarding jobs and overtime pay.

Among their victims was Luis Elvis, who was promised the American Dream. Instead, Belvis was threatened immigration arrest or deportation if he didn't work long hours without overtime pay, while he slept on a bed bug infested mattress covered in garbage bags, without heat or hot water.

"Masaya kami kasi nabigyan din talaga kami ng hustisya," Belvis said.

(We are happy because we were really given justice.)

In a previous judgment, Belvis was awarded $125,460 in unpaid wages and unpaid overtime pay plus damages.

Another victim, Raul De Leon was awarded more than $38,000 in back wages while Cyd Rich Recente was awarded more than $14,000 in lost wages and emotional damages.

"Nalaman ko na fair talaga ang batas dito sa America. Magandang lumaban dito. Walang mayaman, walang mahirap," Belvis added.

(I realized that the law here in America is fair. It’s good to fight here. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor.)

Michael Alfonso, an acting special agent-in-charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New York, said sentencings like these send a strong message that human lives are not commodities and these workers deserve dignity and respect.