Three Indicted in Alleged Forced Labor Scheme at Cartersville, Georgia, Flooring Plant
Prosecutors charged the owner of Wellmade Industries and two others with forced labor and conspiracy in a case announced August 12, 2026; no plea or verdict has been reported.
Three people have been in an alleged forced labor scheme at Wellmade Industries, a flooring manufacturer in Cartersville, Georgia, in a case announced on August 12, 2026 by the , according to Atlanta News First and WRGA News. The charges are forced labor, conspiracy to commit forced labor, and alien harboring, the last of these against Zhu Chen only, as reported by WRGA News, Atlanta News First and WSB-TV.
The matter is at the charging stage and is undecided. None of the three has been tried, and no plea or verdict is recorded in the available reporting. The allegations described below are accusations that have not been proven in court, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until guilt is established at trial. None of the three outlets' accounts included a presumption-of-innocence statement from prosecutors; the presumption applies regardless.
The defendants are named as Zhu Chen, 60, of Cartersville, the owner of Wellmade Industries; Jiayi Chen, 31, of Cartersville; and Jianjun Lu, 55, a Chinese national, described by WSB-TV as of China, according to all three outlets. WRGA News reported that the investigation involved Homeland Security Investigations, the Bartow County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Accounts of the alleged conduct differ in emphasis. WSB-TV reported that the Justice Department alleges the defendants lured Chinese nationals to the Cartersville plant "through false pretenses" on B-1 and L-1 visas, and that once the workers arrived they were forced to work 12-hour shifts, six days a week, in unsafe conditions, paid less than promised, kept in overcrowded and dirty conditions, and threatened with "physical violence, deportation, and crippling debt" if they stopped working. Atlanta News First reported that prosecutors allege the three recruited Chinese nationals through false pretenses to enter the U.S. on B-1 and L-1 visas, then made them work 12-hour shifts six days a week in unsafe conditions, paid them less than promised, threatened them with violence, deportation and crippling debt, and housed them in overcrowded and dirty homes owned by the company despite knowing they lacked legal status. WRGA News gave a similar account of the recruitment, hours, pay and housing, describing the threats as of deportation and sizeable debts, and said the defendants are alleged to have harbored aliens in residences owned by Wellmade knowing they lacked legal status.
On penalty, WSB-TV and WRGA News reported a , and Atlanta News First reported that if convicted the men face up to 20 years in prison. That figure describes a ceiling that would apply only in the event of a conviction, which has not occurred. The case remains open and unresolved, and readers coming to this account later should not treat the charges as a finding.
Added WRGA News as a third source, including its account of the alleged conduct, the investigating agencies (HSI, Bartow County Sheriff's Office, GBI), Wellmade's description as a flooring manufacturer, and its agreement on the 20-year maximum.
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