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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
Marisol Ramirez, a 37 year-old woman from the Dominican Republic, headed the prostitution ring with Roberto Rivera-Miranda, 31 who assisted her. Ramirez, who was deported from the U.S. in 1997 for operating prostitution services, recruited women chiefly from Mexico and Central America. Twenty-three other defendants have been accused of promoting the ring through the distribution of business cards advertising the services in Spanish, operating or working in brothels, transporting the victims, or supplying drugs or condoms. Eighty percent of the perpetrators were living in the U.S. illegally. The defendants allegedly lured both illegal immigrants as well as legal residents into the operation where they were forced to perform sexual services for the financial advantage of the defendants. All forms of the victims' documentation were taken. Heinous and crude conditions included two victims having to service 80 men in a single night. The prostitution ring was linked to activity in 30 other states.
Response and intervention
According to Tim O'Mally, superintendent of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a total of 17 search warrants were issued as well as a total of 39 arrests made. The operation was investigated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), and the St. Paul police department, with the help of Minneapolis, Richfield, and West St. Paul police departments. The Gerald D. Vick Human Trafficking Task Force assisted the investigation as well. Currently, the case has not been fully adjudicated. The twenty-five defendants have been accused of conspiracy, transportation of a person to engage in prostitution and coercion and enticement of another to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution. Twenty of the indicted subjects have been sentenced to date. In 2005, after hearing of an operation in which women from Central America were transported to Minnesota for purposes of prostitution, Sgt. General Jerry Vick from St. Paul began investigating. The investigation continued after his murder in May 2005 and in early 2006, the ICE became involved. According to Stacy Burrows, case agent of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, specific information on the victims cannot be released at this time. While the exact number of victims involved in the ring is known, the information is not yet public. According to Burrows, approximately a dozen women were rescued on the day of the raid on May 19, 2007. Please note that although the information states the victimization began in 2005, not all of the victims were recruited into the ring at the same time. Until the case has been closed, the duration of the victims' bondage is unknown. After hearing of an operation in which women from Central America were transported to Minnesota for purposes of prostitution, Sgt. General Jerry Vick from St. Paul began investigating in 2005. In early 2006, after ICE learned of a potential connection to a case in St. Paul, ICE became involved in the investigation.