Marisol Plasencia Garcia, who worked nine months for Vasquez from May 2006 to January 5, 2006, when police raided the house. Speaking through an interpreter, Garcia painted a picture something straight out of the Grimms' fairy tales - Hansel and Gretel in particular - and the American prison in Guantanamo Bay.
Paid $1,000 a month to work at least 50 hours a week, Garcia testified she spent most of her time caring for anywhere from eight to 14 very young charges - some only one-month-old - in Vasquez's upstairs day care center. Parents were not allowed to step inside the premises, Garcia testified, and Vasquez did nothing other than greet the parents when they dropped their kids off in the morning and picked them up in the afternoon...
Garcia testified that the girl wore only two sets of clothes, which frequently reeked of urine, during the nine months she worked there, and that the boots didn't even fit, being too big. In addition, Garcia said the girl was not allowed upstairs, except when she was taken outside in the yard to receive an outdoor shower. In those instances, Garcia said, the girl was given a shower while dressed in her clothes, and was not given a fresh set of clothes to replace her wet ones afterwards.
