CSEC2011
United States US
The charges are the result of "Operation Vice Grip," an 18-month investigation spearheaded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oceanside Police Department and the Escondido Police Department. Operation Vice Grip focused on prostitution activities orchestrated by members and associates of the Oceanside Crips street gang. According to court documents, in recent years this street gang has focused its for-profit criminal activity on promoting and managing prostitution in San Diego County and throughout the United States. The gang-controlled prostitution spawned a "pimping" subculture that enforced strict rules with consequences for individuals who violated them. In addition, the following agencies provided substantial assistance with the investigation - the U.S. Marshals Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Carlsbad Police Department; the North County Gang Task Force; the Riverside County Sheriff's Department - Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team; and the San Diego County Jurisdictions United for Drug and Gang Enforcement (JUDGE) Task Force.
Domestic Servitude2008
United States US
Gloria Eugenia Leon-Aldana was a part of an alien smuggling operation recruiting aliens from Mexico, smuggling aliens into the United States to San Diego, and forcing labor through a series of threats including calls to Border Patrol. Her co-defendants Andres-Santos and Alonso-Terrero also threatened with physical harm to the victims and their families. Her husband, Mario Antonio Antunez Sotelo is wanted on forced-labor charges in addition to bringing in and harboring aliens for financial gain. He was arrested in December with his wife, and two others. The others are in custody, but Antunez, who was released after his arrest, is now believed to be on the run, possibly hiding in Tijuana or in the Acapulco area. Among other things, Antunez and his wife are accused of holding at least 10 immigrants in two San Diego homes. Federal agents searching one of those properties found a small bedroom crammed with six beds, and living quarters for others carved into a crawl space beneath the home with mattresses on a dirt floor. Aliens held in those homes were repeatedly threatened and the couple took their identity documents to keep them from fleeing. They were also forced to pay rent, which kept them under debt bondage. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which learned of the case through the local Mexican consulate, is working with the Mexican government in the search. Immigration and Customs spokeswoman Lauren Mack said some victims were held as long as eight months.
CSEC2008
United States US
Quoted from the Imperial Valley News: "According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tenorio, who is prosecuting the case with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Black admitted that he recruited and enticed a juvenile to work as a prostitute for his financial benefit between August 15, 2007 and October 11, 2007. Black admitted that he took photographs of the juvenile wearing lingerie and in provocative poses that were then placed in ads posted on the “Craigslist” website to solicit dates. The dates, however, were prostitution “johns” who responded to the ads and made arrangements to have sex with the juvenile in exchange for payment. Black drove the juvenile to and from hotels, where she performed the prearranged acts of prostitution. Black further admitted that he received all of the proceeds the juvenile received in exchange for acts of prostitution. http://www.imperialvalleynews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3510&Itemid=1