All three defendants pleaded guilty to smuggling a 13 year-old girl into the United States from Mexico for the purpose of prostituting the victim. The men coerced the girl into prostituting herself to repay her “smuggling” fee, which was upwards of $2000. The defendants solicited their business in Jackson, Wyoming, operating out of motels in the area. The three defendants kept all the money earned by the victim.
The defendants fled with the girl to Phoenix, Arizona, after an altercation between the defendants and customer resulted in a call to the police. The defendants remained in Arizona for eighteen months before returning to Jackson; however, police were not able to track down the defendants until a year after their return to Jackson.
Authorities believe that the girl was forced to prostitute herself throughout the two years that she was in defendants' custody. Authorities also suspected that the defendants enticed other women and girls into traveling from Mexico to the United States, as part of a larger trafficking ring, although no further charges have been made.
The defendants pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking.
The United States District Court for the District of Wyoming
http://www.law.umich.edu/clinical/HuTrafficCases/Pages/CaseDisp.aspx?caseID=8
Verdict date in 2007