3 brothers from Mexico plead guilty to sex trafficking

NEW YORK — Three brothers from Mexico admitted in federal court they trafficked women and a minor from Mexico and forced them to work in prostitution.  The guilty pleas follow an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Jorge Estrada -Tepal, 37, and Ricardo Estrada -Tepal, 33, of Queens, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking involving forces, fraud, and coercion. They face a mandatory term of imprisonment of 15 years, with a maximum possible sentence of life in prison. Victor Leonel Estrada -Tepal, 29, of Queens, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking conspiracy and sex trafficking of a minor. He faces a mandatory term of imprisonment of 10 years, with a maximum possible sentence of up to life in prison.

"The defendants are classic predators: they targeted women and a young girl in Mexico, and pushed them into a life of sexual slavery in Mexico and the United States," said Lorretta E. Lynch, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York. "As our trafficking cases have repeatedly shown, we will not relent against those who choose to subject victims to modern-day slavery in an effort to line their own pockets."

According to court documents and plea proceedings, the sex trafficking involved at least four victims, and the defendants used various methods to force these women to work in prostitution, ranging from threats of violence, assault and psychological coercion. One minor victim, identified at the guilty plea proceedings as "Jane Doe 4," was under the age of 18 when she was trafficked to the United States.

During the guilty plea held Thursday, defendant Jorge Estrada -Tepal admitted that, starting in 2007, he and his brothers entered into a conspiracy to transport women from Mexico to Queens to engage in prostitution, and that threats of force were used against the victims. Likewise, Ricardo Estrada -Tepal admitted that he and his brothers brought women from Mexico to the United States, where they were forced to work in prostitution, and that he and his brothers did not tell the women the "real truth about why they were coming to the United States." On Tuesday, defendant Victor Leonel Estrada -Tepal admitted that he agreed with his brothers to force women to work in prostitution, including his wife, Jane Doe 4, who was 17 years old at the time, whom he brought from Mexico to Queens to have her engage in prostitution.

Since 2009, the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice have collaborated with Mexican law enforcement counterparts in the Procuraduría General de la República (PGR), the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP), Procuraduría Social de Atención a las Víctimas de Delitos (PROVICTIMA), and non-governmental partners in the United States and Mexico in a Bilateral Human Trafficking Enforcement Initiative. Through this initiative, the United States and Mexico have worked together to bring high-impact prosecutions under both U.S. and Mexican law to more effectively dismantle human trafficking networks operating across the U.S. - Mexico border, prosecute human traffickers, rescue human trafficking victims, and reunite victims with their families. Other significant bilateral cases have been prosecuted in Atlanta, Georgia, and Miami, Florida.

HSI special agents with the Human Trafficking and Smuggling unit arrested the defendants in January 2014. These guilty pleas are the latest in the government's comprehensive anti-trafficking program, which has to date indicted over 55 defendants in sex trafficking cases and rescued over 115 victims, including more than 25 minors.

HSI encourages the public to report human trafficking and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.