Area Brothel Busted In Federal Crackdown
Federal agents raided an alleged brothel in Ridgewood on Tuesday morning, Apr. 30, as part of their bust of an international sex trafficking and prostitution ring which resulted in 12 arrests, prosecutors announced.
Law enforcement sources said the Seneca Avenue location and three other suspected brothels located upstate were at the heart of the operation, in which women from Mexico were smuggled into the U.S. since at least 2006 and forced to sell their bodies for the profit of their pimps.
According to the criminal complaint provided by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the victims were coerced and assaulted by the ringleaders into prostitution, having sex with as many as 30 clients on a given day at the brothels and other locations in the tri-state area. Reportedly, much of their earnings were kept by the operators of the ring; in some cases, a portion of the profits were sent to Mexico to family members and associates.
In some instances, authorities noted, the pimps allegedly forced women whom they suspected of being pregnant to take medication known to cause miscarriages.
Nine of the 12 suspects-eight of whom reside in locations across Queens-were arrested on Tuesday morning by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, while three others currently jailed for other crimes were booked on related charges. Another individual remains at large as of press time.
Each of the suspects, depending on their role in the ring, were variously charged with sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution, use of interstate facilities to promote a prostitution enterprise and obstruction of justice. They each face between five years to life imprisonment if convicted.
“With promises of a better life, the members of this alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell-forcing them to become sex slaves in abhorrent conditions-and using threats, verbal abuse and violence-sexual and otherwise- when they resisted, and even sometimes when they didn’t,” Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“With their arrests today, the barbaric conduct in which these defendants allegedly engaged in order to make a profit has now been put to a stop,” he continued, “and they will be prosecuted for their alleged crimes- and the women they enslaved will be able to put their lives back together.”
The suspects were identified as follows:
– Maria Bautista-Pena (a.k.a. Maricruz), 44, of Queens;
– Miguel Angel Che-Veliz (a.k.a. Miguelon), 38, of Queens;
– Margarito Degante (a.k.a. Chachalaco), 24, of Queens;
– Alejandro Degante-Galento (a.k.a. Celestino Degante-Galeno and El Zorro), 54, of Queens;
– Isidro Degante-Galeno (a.k.a. Marcos, El Perro and Cachorro), 40, of Queens;
– Bonifacio Flores-Mendez (a.k.a. Boni and Mota), 33, of Queens;
– Isaias Flores-Mendez (a.k.a. Adrian Sanchez Mendez, Jesus Diaz- Rincon and Chelo), 40, currently incarcerated on illegal re-entry charges;
– Panfilo Flores-Mendez, 39, of Queens, remains at large as of press time;
– Carlos Garcia-De La Rosa (a.k.a. Choqui, Pirulo and Miguel), 32, who was previously incarcerated on Rikers Island on state charges and was transferred to federal custody (he was additionally charged with possessing child pornography involving a 14-year-old girl with whom he allegedly had relations);
– Valentin Jiamez-Dolores, 22, of Queens;
– Fnu Lnu (a.k.a. Alberto Jesus Martinez-Miranda, Barbas and Barbitas), 34, of Queens;
– Juana Lucas Sanchez, 36, of Milford, Del.; and
– David Vasquez-Medina, 26, currently jailed on illegal re-entry charges.
Inside the ring
Law enforcement sources said the victims of the ring were women hailing from the region of Tenancingo, Mexico, which is located about 45 miles southwest of Mexico City. Reportedly, the participants in the ring convinced the victims to come with them to the U.S., many times by engaging them romantically and promising a better life.
Once the women were brought over the border and arrived in the U.S., however, they were then forced into selling themselves for sex to clients, it was reported. Authorities stated the participants in the ring beat and/or verbally threatened those who resisted.
The women primarily worked out the brothels located on Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood and in Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Yonkers. In some instances, drivers working for the prostitution ring shuttled the women to other brothels located in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware and even to the homes of some clients.
The victims’ services were advertised to potential clients through “chica cards,” printed advertisements usually featuring scantily-clad women and contact information which were passed out on the street by those working in the ring.
Federal agents said each victim typically serviced up to 30 clients a day, making anywhere between $30 and $35 for 15 minutes of sex. Half of the proceeds reportedly went to the driver, while the remaining funds went to the victim. However, authorities noted, the victim was forced to provide their earnings to their pimp.
Some of those funds provided to the pimps were reportedly wired back to Mexico to family members and associates of the sting, according to the criminal complaint.
Each of the victims were provided with condoms and other forms of birth control. When a pimp suspected a victim of being pregnant, federal agents stated, the pimp forced the woman to take cytotec, a drug generally used to treat ulcers but known to induce miscarriages.
The victims of the sex trafficking sting were forced to live in squalid conditions, federal agents charged. In one instance, a woman and her child who were brought from Mexico to New York were forced by the trafficker to sleep on the floor. At one point, they were reportedly kicked out of the residence on a cold night after the woman refused to work.
Many of the women forced into prostitution were able to escape from their pimps, but the criminal complaint noted that some of the victims-” without legal status in the United States, without family or friends for support, without employment opportunities, and as a result of the trauma they have suffered-resorted to prostituting themselves independently.
Those involved in the ring who were not responsible for recruiting and smuggling women allegedly distributed chica cards, drove the victims to clients’ homes and brothels, dispatched the drivers and managed the brothels.
Bonifacio Flores-Mendez and Miguel Angel Che-Veliz allegedly found and destroyed GPS devices installed by law enforcement agents as part of their investigation in October and November 2012, the criminal complaint noted. Their actions were reportedly ordered by Isaias Flores- Mendez.
Authorities ascertained information on the Seneca Avenue brothel on Dec. 6, 2012 in questioning a suspected client. The customer reportedly told him that he had visited the location on three occasions; each time, he paid $30 to an employee, who directed him to a bedroom, where he had sex with a victim of the prostitution ring.
Federal agents also intercepted phone conversations between Bonifacio Flores-Mendez and another individual regarding the operation of the Seneca Avenue brothel, according to the criminal complaint.
Bharara thanked ICE and the NYPD for their cooperation in the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda Kramer and Rebecca Mermelstein of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Organized Crime Unit are prosecuting the case.
