ICE HSI investigation leads to arrest of 8 in US, Mexico for human trafficking
NEW YORK — Special agents in New York and the Mexican Federal Police in Mexico arrested eight people Thursday for human trafficking and sex trafficking related charges. The arrests follow an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Government of Mexico.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York unsealed a 27-count indictment charging eight defendants with sex trafficking, interstate prostitution, alien smuggling, money laundering, racketeering and racketeering conspiracy in connection with scheme to compel Mexican women and girls into prostitution in the United States
Over a two-day period, authorities arrested five defendants in Mexico and two in Queens, New York, as part of a coordinated bilateral law enforcement action. A third defendant is currently in federal custody in West Virginia. The eight defendants are Jovan Rendon-Reyes, aka Jovani, 32, of Mexico; Saul Rendon-Reyes, aka Satanico, 37, of Queens; Guillermina Rendon-Reyes, 44, of Mexico; Francisco Rendon-Reyes, aka Pancho, 27, of Queens; Jose Rendon-Garcia, aka Gusano, 32, of Mexico; Felix Rojas, 45, of Mexico; Odilon Martinez-Rojas, aka Chino or Saul, 44, currently of Brucetown Mills, West Virginia; and Severiano Martinez-Rojas, 50, of Mexico.
“This joint operation reflects our commitment to working with Mexico to bring to justice human traffickers who have no regard for human life,” said ICE Director, Sarah R. Saldaña. “We are resolute in our efforts to not only arrest the human traffickers behind this vile crime, but also to rescue the victims whose lives have tragically been forever changed.”
“This case demonstrates the Justice Department’s steadfast commitment to ending human trafficking,” said U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. “As set forth in the indictment, these defendants used force, fraud, and coercion to lure young women and girls into their control, smuggle them into the United States, and exploit them for profit – an abhorrent violation of both the law and basic human dignity. In the days ahead, the Department of Justice will continue to act decisively to hold traffickers accountable, protect vulnerable individuals, and assist survivors of this heinous crime. I want to thank the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who worked tirelessly on this case, and our partners in the government of Mexico for their invaluable assistance.”
The indictment alleges that the defendants were members of an international criminal organization, identified in the indictment as the Rendon-Reyes Trafficking Organization, which engaged in sex trafficking and related criminal activity between December 2004 and June 2014 in Queens, Atlanta and Jemison, Alabama, among other locations. The defendants used force, threats of force, fraud and coercion to cause young women and girls from Mexico and Latin America to engage in prostitution in the United States.
Since 2009, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Department of Justice have collaborated with Mexican law enforcement counterparts in a Bilateral Human Trafficking Enforcement Initiative aimed at strengthening high-impact prosecutions under both U.S. and Mexican law. The initiative is aimed at dismantling human trafficking networks operating across the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing human traffickers to justice, reuniting victims with their children and restoring the rights and dignity of human trafficking victims, held under the trafficking networks’ control.
These efforts have resulted in successful prosecutions in both Mexico and the United States, including U.S. federal prosecutions of over 50 defendants in multiple cases in New York, Georgia, Florida and Texas since 2009, and numerous Mexican federal and state prosecutions of associated sex traffickers. The charges unsealed Thursday are the latest development in the Eastern District of New York’s comprehensive anti-trafficking program, which has to date indicted over 65 defendants in sex trafficking cases and provided assistance to over 130 victims, including 36 minors. In addition, through the Eastern District of New York’s anti-trafficking program, 18 children have been reunited with their victim-mothers.
The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Updated: