Norcross, Georgia, United States
The defendants in this case allegedly courted girls as young as 17 from Mexico, smuggled them into the United States under pretense and eventually conspired to transport them across state lines for the purposes of prostitution. According to federal Criminal Indictment NO. 1:08-CR-317-CC, five women were smuggled into the US, harbored as aliens, and had hidden from them the fact that they would be prostituted to repay the group for smuggling fees and other expenses. The indictment states that the Rugerios and Hernandez "targeted young, vulnerable women and teenagers with limited resources, and used violence, sexual assaults, threats of violence, threats of violence to family members, and threats of deportation and imprisonment, to compel the victims to engage in prostitution."