Nashville, Tennesse, United States
Juan Mendez and Cristina Andres Perfecto traveled to a rural area in Mexico to recruit underage girls to come to the United States under false promises of working in restaurants. Perfecto convinced a 13 and 17 year old girl to return to the United States with her. She charged them 3,000 dollars for recruitment fees. Once they arrived in Tennessee the girls were beaten and raped by Mandez and forced to work in brothels throughout the state and required to have sex with as many as 40 men a day.
Location
United States · Nashville, Tennesse · 2006 (location generalized to protect survivors)
Response & intervention
the Memphis Police Department, FBI, and Justice Department were all involved in this case. All five people involved in this case have been convicted of commercial sex trafficking and have received sentences of various lengths. Mendez was sentenced on June 27, 2008, to 50 years in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release and was also ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution to his victims.
The two girls were freed from their bondage in November of 2006 and criminal charges were brought against Mandez, Perfecto, and three other men.
The victims have received aftercare from various organizations and law enforcement agencies. The investigation was conducted by ICE and the FBI with assistance from the Memphis Police Department. Catholic Charities, the YWCA, World Relief, and the Salvation Army assisted the victims and witnesses in this matter
FBI Salvation Army World Relief Catholic Charities ICE Memphis Police Department the YWCA
Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don't have a verifiable source on file yet — use “Report a problem” below to add one.