By Minyvonne Burke -
NBC News
A black man with intellectual disabilities is expected to receive more than $ 500,000 after being enslaved in a South Carolina restaurant for five years, a court has ruled.
Bobby Paul Edwards, the Caucasian owner, pleaded guilty in June 2018 to one count of forced labor for forcing
John Christopher Smith to work at his restaurant for more than
"violence and other coercive means".
100 hours a week without any pay
.
Edwards has been
sentenced to more than 10 years in prison
as part of his plea deal after pleading guilty and ordered to pay him $ 272,000 in restitution.
However, last month a court ruled that the amount should be doubled, for which Smith would receive more than $ 545,000.
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Citing the Fair Labor Standards Act, the court stated that an employer who fails to pay minimum wage and overtime to a worker is "liable for liquidated damages" in an amount equal to lost compensation.
"When an employer does not pay these amounts, the employee suffers losses, which includes the loss of the use of that money during the period of delay," is stated in the judgment.
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The abuse began in 2009 when Edwards was the manager of the J&J cafeteria in Conway
, about 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach.
The Justice Department said Edwards subjected Smith to "physical and emotional abuse" when he did not work fast enough or made a mistake.
He beat him with a belt and even with pots and pans.
On one occasion, Edwards dipped metal tongs in boiling oil and burned Smith's neck, according to the Justice Department.
He also insulted him with racial epithets "to belittle and demean him,"
the agency said.
Smith was removed from the restaurant and placed in the care of the state's adult protective services after a concerned resident alerted authorities in 2014.
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According to the WMBF station, an affiliate of our sister network NBC News in Myrtle Beach, Smith has a condition where
his brainpower is significantly below average
.
The following year, he sued Edwards, J&J Cafeteria and the restaurant's co-owner for slavery, false imprisonment, racial profiling and disability.
According to the lawsuit, Edwards owned the restaurant along with his brother.
J&J coffee shop in Conway, South Carolina, pictured from January 2017.Google Maps via NBC News
Smith said in the lawsuit that he was forced to work from 6 a.m. until the restaurant closed, when he had to leave everything clean.
Sometimes he didn't leave until 1:30 in the morning.
There were times when Smith was so tired that "they had to take him home and feed him by hand," the lawsuit states.
Edwards had convinced Smith to deposit his salary into a bank account, but it never existed.
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It was in the office or in a restaurant freezer where the beatings and physical abuse occurred, according to the lawsuit.
Smith did not report the abuse because he feared for his life
.
According to the lawsuit, Edwards threatened to stomp on his neck if Smith went to the police and told him he would beat him "until people recognized him."
During the years that he was enslaved, Smith was forced to live in an apartment that was owned by Edwards.
The lawsuit claims that the apartment was infested with cockroaches and that the living conditions were "deplorable and detrimental to human health."
The case is still open.