Being recognized for his humanitarian efforts at a Century Plaza Hotel gala was no doubt the last circumstance that the unassuming Alex Faguet ever thought he’d find himself in when he befriended a Peruvian illegal immigrant several years ago. And yet, there he was on stage on January 22, before 1,500 guests, getting his due by Bet Tzedek Legal Services”and with good reason. A Jewish community-founded pro bono organization devoted to assisting L.A.’s neediest residents regardless of race, religion or ethnicity, Bet Tzedek (Hebrew for ‘House of Justice’) singled out 22-year-old Palisadian Faguet for his crucial role in foiling the alien’s exploiter. A few years ago, Faguet met Elena, a Peruvian live-in maid making a meager living in Los Angeles in an attempt to support her children back home in her native country. Ironically or not so coincidentally, her employer and exploiter was Luz Watts, an educated Peruvian-American in her 60s, who spoke perfect English and claimed to have taught at USC. Faguet, attending USC at the time, lived in an apartment within the same building where Watts was landlord. According to Faguet, Watts was prone to erratic behavior. ‘She would scream at me for making too much noise to hugging and kissing me,’ Faguet says ‘Mood swings at the drop of a hat.’ Not to mention Watts’ ‘annoying’ yappy little lap dogs, the optimistically named Happy and Lucky. There was the time, Faguet recalls, when Watts summoned both a tow company and the police after he parked too close to her car. On another occasion, the landlord used her key to barge in on Faguet on a Saturday morning without any advance notice to inspect his place for cleanliness. Very embarrassing. USC can be a party school, yet Faguet swears up and down that he was not some boisterous frat boy or a hard-partying weekend warrior creating a racket. Nothing could be further from the truth for the academic student. ‘I made the dean’s list three times,’ he insists. Elena and Faguet began bonding when the latter only half facetiously referred to her boss as ‘loco.’ ‘She smiled and we kind of connected,’ Faguet says. Soon, Faguet struck up conversations with Elena in his broken espa’ol. ‘I was practicing my Spanish,’ he says, ‘I had a course coming up.’ Then one day, ‘Elena told me her story–how she was forcibly deported.’ Despite the difficult communication, Faguet discovered that Elena was the victim of what was ‘essentially indentured servitude. There was human trafficking going on.’ As what was apparently a controlling move, Watts, who claimed to have taught Spanish on a university level, had never taught Elena any English. After consulting his parents for advice, Faguet helped Elena get in touch with Bet Tzedek. ‘She was too afraid to give them a call from the house phone so we used my cell phone.’ Bet Tzedek attorney Becky Monroe took her case, and ‘they met on a Sunday, on a day when the landlady was out of town.’ Under Watts’ oppressive conditions, Elena earned just $300 a month. In April 2005, says Faguet, Watts, apparently fearing investigation, drugged her and drove her to the Tijuana border. ‘One of Elena’s friends called me and told me about Elena being at the border,’ continues Faguet. ‘Her friends didn’t know any English, I was having a hard time [communicating] because they were frantic and talking too quickly in Spanish.’ Two months later, Faguet found himself sequestered inside a solemn room within the Federal Building in Westwood, telling his version of events to the FBI. ‘I drew a map for them of the apartment building. I also gave them a copy of the gate key,’ Faguet says. ‘A couple of months later they raided the place. They ended up raiding [Watts’] home and they got into her safe,’ where the FBI found Elena’s expired visa. With Monroe’s help, Elena pressed civil charges against Watts. Elena received ‘an undisclosed settlement,’ Faguet says. ‘Enough to change her life and her family’s life forever.’ A criminal prosecution against Watts is pending. ‘I was reassured by Becky that she was safe and happy,’ says Faguet, who eventually reunited with Elena and Monroe for lunch at the Farmer’s Market (just across from the Bet Tzedek’s Fairfax Avenue offices). Indeed, the seeds of Faguet’s altruism were planted here in the Palisades, where he grew up in the Riviera. He attended the Palisades’ Reconstructionist congregation, Kehillat Israel, where he volunteered as a madrahim (teacher’s assistant) for Cantor Chaim Frankel. Faguet’s education and altruism continued at Village School, and at the Brentwood School, where he won the Benefactor Community Service Award four years in a row. While attending Brentwood, he volunteered for such nonprofits as Para Los Ni’os (‘For The Kids’), for which he helped chaperone orphans to Legoland in Carlsbad. He also took part in Brentwood’s Jewish Culture Club. Faguet worked in town for Dr. Kerry Davirro before matriculating into USC, where he earned his degree in psychology with a business minor. Today, with this most unfortunate Americanization of Elena behind him, Faguet, now a commercial real estate agent for Piken, puts it this way: ‘I learned that this whole human trafficking thing still goes on. If anyone sees this sort of thing, I think it’s a responsibility to help these people or report it.’
