News Releases and Statements

According to court documents and statements made at the defendant’s plea hearing, in July 2011, Victor Manuel Contreras, 29, of Manassas, Virginia, engaged in chats via Facebook with a minor female.

The individuals arrested in Quetzaltenango were: Antonio Rolando Chavez Paxtor, Maricela Isabel Gonzalez Hernandez, Eliseo Alvarado Gonzalez, Marciano Alvarado Gonzalez, Antonio Adonias Gonzalez Hernandez, Genaro Elias Jimenez and Pablo Arnoldo Gomez-Gonzalez. Two other members of this organization were arrested in Mexican territory: Douglas Ivan Aguilar-Juarez and Milton Rocael Sebastian Cardona.

Ronald Lee Blake, 45, faces a charge involving foreign or interstate travel for prostitution. Maria Blake was arrested June 24, 2014.

Paul Carter, 44, aka "Pimpin' Paul" and David Moore, 46, aka "King David," both of Milwaukee, were each previously indicted. Carter was indicted on two counts of sex trafficking and Moore was indicted for sex trafficking, conspiracy and solicitation of a crime of violence.

Solorzano-Tavila, Sesmas-Borja and Cesmas-Borja were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal, to respective terms of 60, 54 and 51 months in federal prison for the conspiracy charge. In addition, each will serve consecutive 60-month sentences for using a firearm resulting in total sentences ranging from 120 to 111 months in federal prison.

On June 23, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) surged personnel to the RGV as part of HSI's efforts to target and dismantle human smuggling operations across the southwest border. Less than a month into this operation, 192 smugglers and their associates have already been arrested on criminal charges, more than 501 undocumented immigrants have been taken into custody and more than $625,000 in illicit profits have been seized from 288 bank accounts held by human smuggling and drug trafficking organizations.

This three-year investigation was conducted as part of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance (HTRA) which includes the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), FBI, Harris County Sheriff's Office, Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Department of State, Texas Department of Public Safety and the Houston Police Department.

Idelfonso Garcia-Benitez, 21, crashed his vehicle carrying 14 smuggled aliens when he attempted to avoid a traffic stop by Kingsville Police. Seven people were killed and seven injured when he crashed the extended cab truck he was driving.

Damion St. Patrick Baston, 37, of New York, was convicted on four counts of sex trafficking – both in the United States and Australia – five counts of transporting multiple individuals for prostitution, one count of importation of an alien for prostitution, one count of using a passport secured by false statement, one count of aggravated identity theft and nine counts of money laundering. Baston was also found guilty of illegally reentering the United States after being previously removed.

Pedro Rayon-Perez, 28, of Mexico, was sentenced July 1 to 96 months in federal prison for harboring illegal aliens. Rayon-Perez previously pleaded guilty to the charge, as did three others. As an illegal alien, Rayon-Perez was further sentenced to 21 months for re-entering the United States after having been previously deported.

Heriberto Barajas-Coria, of Mexico, was sentenced to 72 months in prison for conspiring to transport and harbor aliens, resulting in the death of one of the aliens. Barajas-Coria previously pleaded guilty to the charge Feb. 6. As an illegal alien, Barajas-Coria is also expected to face deportation proceedings following his release from prison.

In addition to the 188 months imprisonment, Antonio Lira-Robles, 38, of Mexico, was sentenced to five years supervised release, for the sex trafficking of one victim, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of approximately $1.2 million.

Patrick R. Minga, 50, formerly of Cape Coral, faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison. His sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 20.

Mustafa Muhammad, 36, of Clinton, Maryland, faces between 10 years and life in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 11.

According to court documents, HSI conducted consent searches of various locations in the Mission, Texas area on Oct. 24, 2012. These locations were known to harbor illegal immigrants. During the search at Los Benitez Ranch, special agents encountered the seven defendants.

A group with a name like Club Operators Against Sex Trafficking (COAST) doesn't want any part of sex trafficking in their adult entertainment establishments. And U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a lead federal law enforcement agency in combating human trafficking, is the first such agency to give club owners and their associates the training they need to help stop it.

Duc Luu, 50, was indicted in August 2011 while he was living in Vietnam. He was indicted on one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of money laundering.

Grigor Chatlayan, 44, of Hollywood; along with Varduhi Avagyan, 42; and Meri Avetsiyan, 40, both of Glendale; are charged with bringing illegal aliens into the United States for financial gain. Chatlayan is also charged with aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.

"Operation Southern Crossing" took place May 1-31, throughout the five HSI areas of responsibility along the southern border: Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Phoenix and San Diego. However, due to the significant levels of human smuggling occurring near and through Texas' Rio Grande Valley, this initiative focused heavily on HSI's investigations and enforcement actions in southeast Texas.

Perez-Lopez was arrested Dec. 19, 2013 in Eagle Pass, Texas, by agents with U.S. Border Patrol while illegally entering the United States. She was convicted of illegal entry and sentenced to 30 days in prison. After serving time, Perez-Lopez was transferred to ICE custody Jan. 16. She was subsequently ordered to be removed from the United States by an immigration judge on March 20.

More than 90 officials from the Attorney General of Mexico (PGR), state attorney general offices (PGJ), the Mexican Federal Police (CNS) and the National Immigration Institute (INM) participated. The participants explored how to identify potential human traffickers and victims of human trafficking and related crimes. One of the objectives of the conference was to increase collaboration between the United States and Mexico to combat human trafficking.

Michael Darnell Boswell Jr., 31, must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Lenyn Acosta, 33, was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon to 97 months in federal prison. Judge Harmon accepted all the guilty pleas in the case, finding that Acosta was the organizer and leader of an ongoing and extensive conspiracy involving hundreds of undocumented aliens, including juveniles. Judge Harmon also found Acosta caused serious bodily injury to a female alien he harbored by sexually assaulting her during the course of the conspiracy.

Karin Yamilec Aguilar-Melgor, 22, pleaded guilty June 5 before U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos.

Jose Gallegos, 47, was convicted by a Corpus Christi federal jury Dec. 10, 2013, after a two-day trial and about 45 minutes of deliberation.