Monroe man pleads guilty after forcing woman smuggled into U.S. to do unpaid labor

Published 1:30 am Friday, December 12, 2025

EVERETT — A Monroe man pleaded guilty Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Seattle to the federal felony of harboring an alien for financial gain. Initially, the 57-year-old was charged with four federal felonies related to his treatment of a woman smuggled into the country at his direction.

Rangel Ramirez-Manzano pursued a long-distance relationship with the victim, a woman he had known when she was younger and who lived in his hometown in Mexico, according to a United States Department of Justice press release. He urged the victim to move to the United States to be his girlfriend.

Ramirez-Manzano paid smugglers $17,000 to bring the woman across the border into Southern California, the release said. After arriving in Washington, he forced the victim to do hard labor for his landscaping business, threatened her, assaulted her and threatened her children, who remained in Mexico.

According to case filings, he isolated her, restricted her food and failed to pay her for months of work at various landscaping jobs. In the plea agreement, Ramirez-Manzano admitted she did at least $16,000 worth of uncompensated work, the release said.

From February 2022 to April 24, 2022, he harbored the victim in his home until she was able to escape and ask a neighbor to call 911, the release said. Monroe police transported the victim to the hospital for multiple injuries. The FBI joined the Monroe Police Department in the investigation.

In September 2022, law enforcement arrested Ramirez-Manzano. He has remained in federal custody since and undergone various mental evaluations and treatment, the release said.

After years of delays related to whether Ramirez-Manzano was mentally competent to go to trial, the guilty plea resolved the case, the release said. The sentencing is scheduled for March 5. 

Ramirez-Manzano agreed to pay $16,000 in restitution to the victim. Law enforcement seized that sum in cash from the defendant’s work truck, which will be forfeited to the government for restitution, the release said.

Harboring an alien for financial gain is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. While prosecutors have agreed to recommend five years in prison, the judge can impose any sentence that is allowed by law, the release said.

Ramirez-Manzano is a legal permanent resident but could have his status revoked due to this conviction, and “likely will be deported following his prison term,” the release said.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kate Crisham and Rachel Yemini are prosecuting this case.

Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com; X: @JennaMillikan