SC Restaurant Manager Pleads Guilty To Forced Labor Of Black Man

CONWAY, SC — A white South Carolina man forced a black man with an intellectual disability to work for him for more than 100 hours a week at the restaurant he managed and admitted to using violence, threats, isolation and intimidation to do so, according to the Department of Justice.

The DOJ said 53-year-old Bobby Paul Edwards, of Conway, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to one count of forced labor. Edwards faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and mandatory restitution to the victim.

According to the DOJ, between 2009 and 2014, Edwards managed the restaurant in Conway where the victim, who was identified in court documents as "JCS," worked. The victim, John Christopher Smith, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Edwards, his brother Ernest Edwards and the restaurant in 2015. In the lawsuit, Smith alleged he was not given any breaks in between his 18-hour shifts and did not receive any vacation time, days off or benefits.

The lawsuit also said that the apartment where Smith lived was owned and managed by Edwards, and Smith lived in squalor as the apartment was overrun with cockroaches. According to the lawsuit, Edwards threatened that he would have Smith arrested if ever reported the abuse.

According to the lawsuit, Edwards would physically restrain Smith to the restaurant to force him to work there, even when he was sick. Ernest Edwards, who owned the restaurant, was informed of the abuse on at least two occasions but did nothing to stop it, the lawsuit alleged. Both the men named in the lawsuit denied the allegations in the civil lawsuit.

Smith had worked at the restaurant since he was 12 and when Edwards began managing the restaurant in 2009, he allegedly increased the victim's duties and made him work more than 100 hours in a week, the DOJ said.

The DOJ alleges that Edwards stopped paying Smith and used abusive language, racial epithets, threats and violence to compel him to work. According to the DOJ, Edwards beat Smith with a belt, punched him, hit him with pots and pans and burned the victim's bare neck with hot tongs to compel him to work faster and punish him for his mistakes.

Smith worked at the restaurant till 2014 when authorities removed him after receiving complaints about abuse.

The DOJ said under the plea agreement, Edwards will be required to pay restitution to the victim.

Photo via Horry County Sheriff's Department