Attorney General Bonta Secures Guilty Verdict Against Members of the Gamos Family for Human Trafficking and Labor Scheme

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the guilty verdicts of three members of the Gamos Family for human trafficking and labor-related charges, as well as a guilty plea by the fourth member of the family. The four individuals committed these crimes over the course of a decade from 2008 to 2018 while operating Rainbow Bright, an adult residential and child care company in the Bay Area. The defendants targeted members of the Filipino community, many of whom were recent immigrants to the United States, for human trafficking and labor exploitation. The defendants trafficked many of the victims using threats of arrest and deportation, false promises to assist with immigration, and some passports were confiscated. Defendant Joshua Gamos also physically abused one of the victims.  

“Today, we held the Gamos family accountable for their despicable crimes,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This organized criminal enterprise targeted vulnerable people looking for work opportunities, and exploited and abused workers in a horrific trafficking scheme. Let me be clear: This behavior will never be tolerated in California. I am grateful for my team at the California Department of Justice and our law enforcement partners who helped to bring this family to justice.”

Rainbow Bright employees were required to live and work in care homes and day care for hours far exceeding a normal work day, and forced to sleep on floors and in garages. Some employees reported being locked outside when defendants were not home. Rainbow Bright defendants deterred the employees from leaving the dismal working conditions by regularly threatening to turn the employees over to U.S. immigration officials and by confiscating some employees’ passports. 

The jury found that the defendants took over $500,000 in the commission of the scheme; the victims were vulnerable; and that defendants acted with intent to cause great bodily injury and with cruelty, viciousness, and callousness. Sentencing for these defendants is scheduled for August 19 at 8:30 AM at San Mateo County Superior Court. Each of the following defendants were found guilty: 

• Joshua Gamos, 46, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and grand theft of labor, one count of human trafficking, 16 counts of grand theft of labor, one count of workers’ compensation fraud, nine counts of failure to file unemployment tax returns, and nine counts of failure to collect or pay unemployment insurance taxes;
• Noel Gamos, 44, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and grand theft of labor, one count of human trafficking, 16 counts of grand theft of labor, nine counts of failure to file unemployment insurance tax returns and nine counts of failure to collect or pay unemployment insurance taxes; and
• Carlina Gamos, 70, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and grand theft of labor, two counts of human trafficking, 17 counts of grand theft of labor, nine counts of failure to file unemployment insurance tax returns, and nine counts of failure to collect or pay unemployment insurance taxes.

Gerlen Gamos, 42, previously pleaded guilty on January 30, 2019, to two counts of grand theft. 

The prosecution of this case was by the Special Prosecutions Section of the California Attorney General’s Office with support from the California Attorney General’s Tax Recovery and Criminal Enforcement (TRaCE) Task Force, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Department of Labor, the California Department of Industrial Relations, the California Employment Development Department, the California Department of Social Services, the Pacifica Police Department, the Daly City Police Department, and the South San Francisco Police Department, as well as the Department of Tax and Fee Administration and Franchise Tax Board.

Throughout the course of the case, the California Department of Justice’s Victims’ Services Unit worked with the San Mateo County District Attorney's Victims’ Services Unit and victim service providers to provide resources for survivors and their families, and to offer support and information at every stage of the prosecution. 

More broadly, VSU works in conjunction with victim service providers and frontline prosecutors all across the state to provide victim-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally-sensitive support services to all crime victims, including underserved, at-risk, underrepresented, and vulnerable populations. More information about VSU is available here. General information and resources for survivors of sexual assault and violence is available here.

Filed charges can be found here.