News Releases and Statements

Jamal Moore, 33, is currently wanted in Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Minnesota on a state charge of promoting prostitution of a minor.

Jose William Quintanilla, 41, pleaded guilty just as trial testimony was set to begin Nov. 12, 2015. Adelio De Jesus Batres, 53, and Hugo Alexander Melendez-Gonzalez, 38, had pleaded guilty prior to trial.  Melendez-Gonzalez, Quintanilla and Batres were sentenced to 327 months, 360 months and 330 months in federal prison, respectively.

Olga Sandra Murra, 64, aka “Olga Sandra Capon-Meneses,” was convicted of two counts of forced labor and two counts of harboring an illegal alien.  Each forced labor count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.  Each harboring count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Carter’s “conduct in this case spanned a decade as he prostituted the seven minor victims from 2003 to 2013” and transported them from California to Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington DC and Nevada, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court.

In April, a federal jury convicted Kay Tee, 51, of Wichita, on one count of attempting to entice a person to cross state lines to engage in prostitution, one count of using a telephone in furtherance of prostitution, and one count of money laundering.

“Operation Mesoamerica” was a 15-month multinational investigation that began with a tip from the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Assistant Attaché Office in Merida, Mexico, and ended Tuesday, June 28, with the arrest of 27 individuals throughout Central America. A second human smuggling investigation yielded 14 arrests on Monday, June 27, in Colombia.

Eduardo Rocha, Sr., aka “Lalo,” was sentenced July 6 by U.S. District Judge Alia Moses to life in prison. In addition to the prison term, Judge Moses ordered Rocha to pay $10,481.20 in restitution to his victims and forfeit to the government his real property located in Carrizo Springs, Texas where the crimes were committed.

Terrell Banker, 26, was convicted of federal sex trafficking charges following a jury trial in October 2015. A co-defendant, Laura Cook, previously pled guilty to conspiracy to engage in the sex trafficking of a minor and was sentenced to 58 months in prison earlier this year.

Jovan Rendon-Reyes, aka Jovani, 32; Guillermina Rendon-Reyes, 44; Jose Rendon-Garcia, aka Gusano, 32; Felix Rojas, 45; and Severiano Martinez-Rojas, 50, were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Orenstein of the Eastern District of New York on a 27-count indictment following their extradition from Mexico.  The indictment, which was unsealed on Nov. 19, 2015, charges eight defendants with racketeering and racketeering conspiracy involving predicate acts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; sex trafficking of minors; interstate prostitution; alien smuggling; money laundering and related offenses.  Three co-defendants charged in the same indictment, Saul Rendon-Reyes, aka Satanico, 37; Francisco Rendon-Reyes, aka Pancho, 27; and Odilon Martinez-Rojas, aka Chino and Saul, 44, were arraigned in the Eastern District of New York on Nov. 19, 2015.

In Montréal, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) expected that the influx of visitors throughout the week leading up the race could increase the demand for sexual services.  RCMP officers and the Montréal Police conducted a sexual exploitation awareness campaign in partnership with several law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Timoteo Reyes-Perez, 35, a Mexican national, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor. He was originally charged in 2008 but was a fugitive until last year when he was extradited to the United States from Mexico.

Sean P. Hall, 46, of Topeka, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. In his plea, he admitted to conspiring with co-defendants to operate a Topeka-based prostitution business. At times, as many as 20 women were working as prostitutes for the organization.

U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced all four human smugglers June 14. Judge Crane took into consideration the leadership roles in the human smuggling organization of Jorge Luis Ortiz-Aguilera, 36, of Mexico, and Jose Mario Ledezma-Vega, 47, of Edinburg, Texas. Judge Crane sentenced both Ortiz-Aguilera and Ledezma-Vega to 51-months in federal prison each.

This indictment alleges the two owners of Century Roofing knowingly employed illegal aliens, using coercion, extortion and threats to control workers and force them to pay kickbacks. Their goal was to maximize their profits by cutting Century Roofing’s overhead costs and giving the company an unfair competitive advantage.

The HSI office in The Hague provided 2,084 financial leads developed over a five month period monitoring money transfers, helping their European partners connect two parallel investigations into the Athens-based operation providing falsified documents to TCNs in EU Member States and other countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Jaquan Casanova aka “Cass, Joffe, Joffy and/or Joffy Joe,” 24, of Boston, was convicted following a seven-day trial on charges of tampering with a witness and lying to a federal agent about his involvement in the sex trafficking ring. 

Noe Aranda-Soto, aka “Diablo,” 36, of San Carlos, Michoacan, Mexico, pleaded guilty to kidnapping resulting in death, use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence resulting in death, and conspiracy to transport aliens for private financial gain resulting in death. 

Juan Diego Lozano-Salgado, 24, was sentenced by Judge Hayden Head sentenced to 60 months in federal prison.  As an illegal alien, he is also expected to face deportation proceedings following his release from prison.

Henry Joe Kane, 52, of Tumacacori, was sentenced Tuesday and will be subject to three years of supervised release following the completion of his prison term. Kane pleaded guilty March 8 to conspiring to harbor unauthorized individuals for profit, a felony.

Anthony Lamarr Sims, 21, aka “Mar Mar,” of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was sentenced to serve 14 years in prison on one count of sex trafficking children.

Granville Robinson, 27, of Memphis, Tennessee, also faces a restitution hearing set for July to determine payment to his victims. Robinson pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiring to commit sex trafficking and one count of sex trafficking. 

Shahid Hassan Muslim, AKA, Sharp, 33, of Charlotte, was also ordered to pay nearly $14,000 in restitution to two victims. On Aug. 11, 2014, a federal jury found Muslim guilty on all counts, including two counts of sex trafficking, one count of kidnapping, one count of production of child pornography, one count of witness tampering and five counts of promoting a prostitution business enterprise

Fidel Mancinas-Franco, 51, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, and Jose Villela-Lopez, 53, of Cananea, Sonora, Mexico, were sentenced Wednesday to 96 and 120 months, respectively, by Chief U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins.