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Sex TraffickingArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (2005)

A sex trafficking case from 2005 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States.

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Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

The leaders of the prostitution ring, Martin Carbajal-Servin and Estella Aguilar-Ortiz, a husband and wife were living inside the United States illegally. They recruited a young woman from Mexico using the promise of a legitimate job in Myrtle Beach. They then forced her into prostitution and threatened to kill her if she did not comply.

Response and intervention

Yes, police made arrests, but nowhere in the arrest record of the young victim is forced prostitution mentioned. Nonetheless, Carbajal-Servin got two years in prison; Aguilar-Ortiz was sentenced to 11 months, both for "enticing the women into prositution." Police arrested first the young girl, and she spent three months in prison before being deported back to Mexico. Carbajal-Servin and Aguilar-Ortiz, the traffickers, also arrested. No. Victim placed in custody and later deported. Local police For more details, see "U.S. Attorney Plans Increased Push against Human Trafficking," Wilmington Star, 1 April 2007

Sex Trafficking2010

North Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 2010

United States US

One person (Rubi Bertaud-Cabrera, 27) is charged with human trafficking and two others (Efrain Pacheco-Martinez and Marcos Antonio Pacheco-Martinez) were being sought after a 20-year-old woman told police she was smuggled in from Mexico, held captive for three weeks at a house in North Charleston, and forced to have sex.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2010

North Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 2010

United States US

Rubi Bertaud-Cabrera Age: 27 Charged with one count of importing an alien for an immoral purpose; two counts of bringing in and harboring aliens; one count of transporting for prostitution; and one count of failing to file a factual statement about an alien. Police are now looking for suspected human traffickers Efrain Bertaud-Cabrera, who is described as 5'5", 200 pounds, and about 30-40 years old, and Marcos Antonio Pacheco-Martinez, 5'9", 160 pounds and about 25-35 years old. Victim had been smuggled into this country illegally after Bertaud-Cabrera's mother in Mexico approached the victim's mother about traveling to the United States to care for Bertaud-Cabrara's children, the affidavit said. The offer was first extended when the victim was 16, but her mother resisted until four years later. The victim then traveled to Altar, Mexico, to meet someone who would smuggle her across the border. She paid the smuggler 1,200 pesos, or about $100, the affidavit said. She first was taken to a "stash house" in the Phoenix area for several days, then moved to Atlanta and ultimately to the house on Ginger Lane. She initially did housework there, but Bertaud-Cabrera then told her that she would have to work as a prostitute to pay off her smuggling fee, the affidavit said. The Victim escaped from her alleged abductors and was walking around the Pepperhill subdivision about 7 p.m., according to a police incident report. A woman in the neighborhood saw the victim and called police, said Spencer Pryor, police public information officer. “She looked like a child and she looked confused,” said the caller, a Smoketree Court resident, who asked that her name be withheld. “I didn’t stick around to hear what was wrong with her. I just called police and left.” Using a Spanish-speaking officer as an interpreter, the victim led police to a house on Ginger Lane where she said she had been held against her will for three weeks.

5 sourcesArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2009

Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States, 2009

United States US

Woman charged with prostituting a 14-year-old girl to support her drug habit. "20-year-old Sandra Panecka coerced the girl to run away from home in 2007 and then introduced her to drugs. They say Panecka eventually encouraged the girl to begin prostituting herself so they could both continue to buy cocaine. The victim says she was physically and sexually assaulted and was infected with sexually-transmitted diseases." http://news14.com/Default.aspx?ArID=607111

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016