Bonded Labor2008
United States US
Juan and Judith Ramos trafficked two women across the U.S.-Mexico border, promising them good jobs. After arrival, the victims were put to work in the couple's Adult Daycare center, and occasionally in their home. In total, the victims worked 1,300 hours without pay before they escaped. They were also harassed and threatened by the couple. The victims were told if they did not cooperate, they would be deported.
CSEC2011
United States US
Beleal Garcia-Gonzalez, 35, of Mission, Texas was convicted Sept. 23, 2010 after a three-day jury trial. He was charged with three counts of sex trafficking, one count of conspiracy to harbor aliens and six counts of harboring aliens. During his September 2010 trial, the jury heard testimony that underage illegal aliens were being forced to work and being prostituted at the El Paraiso Bar in Mission, Texas. Ultimately, agents rescued three girls, ages 14, 15 and 17, working at the bar and being prostituted by Garcia-Gonzalez, the bar's owner. The jury learned that the three minors had been living with their family in Honduras when they were promised a job working at a restaurant making $700 a week in the United States. In court, the girls testified that the defendant spoke to their mother on the phone to make the arrangements. The girls were illegally smuggled into the United States expecting jobs. Instead, they worked at Garcia-Gonzalez' bar making only $120 a week which was deducted from the $4,500 fees they each “owed” Garcia-Gonzalez for being smuggled into the country. Garcia-Gonzalez told the girls that they could make $3 for every beer that a customer bought them and that they could keep any money they made having sex with customers, minus $50 they would have to pay him. The girls began working by selling and drinking beer with the customers. However, they soon realized they were not making any money because Garcia-Gonzalez never paid them. Needing money, the girls turned to the only other option Garcia-Gonzalez had given them - prostitution. Garcia-Gonzalez was charged along with several other co-defendants and who were also sentenced on Tuesday. Cesar Enrique Sarmiento-Mendoza, 33, of Honduras, worked at the bar and was left in charge of the bar when Garcia-Gonzalez was not there. Jenny Beatris Parada-Ponce, 27, of El Salvador, who was a prostitute herself, explained to the girls about prostitution among other things. Sarmeinto-Mendoza and Parada-Ponce each pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking prior to Garcia-Gonzalez's trial. Judge Crane sentenced Sarmiento-Mendoza to seven years of imprisonment; Parada-Ponce was sentenced to six years. Two others were also charged as a result of this ICE HSI investigation. Elizabeth Mendez-Vasquez, 23, of Mexico, and Maria Luisa Vasquez-Garcia, 21, of Mexico, were also charged and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to harbor aliens on Aug. 27, 2010. Mendez-Vasquez was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment
Sex Trafficking2003
United States US
7 men were convicted for harboring aliens in a safe house apartment in the Houston area. The safe house was a destination for undocumented aliens smuggled into the country and transported to Houston from the Rio Grande Valley. Soto admitted that the aliens were housed in the apartment prior to traveling to their final destinations. The men trafficked four women from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, who had agreed to pay $5000 to be smuggled into the United States. Once they arrived here, however, the women were confined in “safe houses,” where they were forced to cook, clean, and do housework without pay. In addition, they were repeatedly raped by the defendants, who were charged and convicted on federal civil rights violations, extortion, hostage-taking, immigration offenses, involuntary servitude, and human trafficking. Juan Carlos Soto, Armando Soto-Huarto, Jose Corona-Soto, Martin Cortez-Gutierrez, Javier Olvera-Hernandez, Jose-Luis Villa-Zavalla, and Jose Angel Pineda-Cortez were sentencedon various trafficking and forced servitude-related charges. Juan Carlos Soto, the ringleader, was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison without parole– the longest sentence ever handed out under TVPA as of that date. In January 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Randy Crane sentenced Armando Soto-Huarto was sentenced to ten years in prison; and Martin Cortez-Gutierrez to 14 years. Other low-level members of the conspiracy received prison sentences ranging from four to 27 months in prison.