Five Defendants Convicted of International Sex Trafficking for Forcing Central American Girls and Women into Prostitution

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON – Five defendants, all members or associates of an extended family, face potential life sentences after being found guilty of sex trafficking for participating in a scheme that lured young Central American women and girls into the Los Angeles area and forced them into prostitution, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien for the Central District of California. The defendants, four Guatemalan nationals and one Mexican citizen, were convicted on Feb. 11, 2009, of conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and importation of aliens for purposes of prostitution. The jury in the case was unable to reach unanimous verdicts on additional charges. During a six-week trial, the government presented evidence that the defendants targeted young, uneducated, impoverished and undocumented women and girls from Central America. The defendants conspired to lure and smuggle their victims into the United States for prostitution by enticing them with false promises of legitimate jobs. But after arranging for the victims to be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, the defendants used a combination of threats, including deception, rape, physical violence and witchcraft, to compel the victims to perform acts of prostitution. The defendants intimidated and controlled their victims, the evidence showed, by threatening that if the victims tried to escape, the defendants or their associates would find them, beat them and kill their loved ones in Guatemala. Some defendants also used witch doctors to t”