Recently in prostitution Category

Donald Mathias of Davie, Fla., pleaded guilty today to engaging in sex tourism in the Philippines, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jeffrey H. Sloman and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John Morton.

Mathias, 64, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William Peter Dimitrouleas in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to four counts of traveling in foreign commerce and engaging in illicit sexual conduct. He was indicted on those charges on Oct. 27, 2009.

As part of his plea agreement, Mathias admitted that from 2005 until December 2008, he communicated and arranged with the mother of two minor females located in the Philippines, to travel to the Philippines and engage in sexual conduct with the minors. During this time, Mathias and the mother exchanged hundreds of e-mails regarding sexual activity between Mathias and the minor females, recording those sexual acts with a video camera and making payments to the mother in exchange for the sexual acts.

Mathias admitted that he traveled to the Philippines in April 2007 and again in December 2007, engaged in sexual conduct with the minors on those trips and recorded those acts with a video camera. Mathias also admitted that he made the minors sign a contract in December 2007, requiring the minors to be his sex slaves. Money transfer and e-mail records showed that Mathias sent thousands of dollars to the mother between 2005 and December 2008. Mathias also admitted that he traveled to the Philippines in December 2008 to engage in sexual conduct with the minors again. However, Filipino law enforcement detained Mathias and he was not successful in meeting the minors. On Oct. 14, 2009, the defendant was arrested by U.S. law enforcement in Miami.

As part of the plea agreement, the defendant and the government both agreed to recommend a sentence of 20 years in prison and a lifetime period of supervised release. The defendant also agreed to pay $200,000 in restitution to the victims of his crimes located in the Philippines, and agreed to transfer his real property to the United States in order to satisfy the restitution.

Sentencing has been set for March 2, 2010. At sentencing, Mathias faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, up to a $250,000 fine and the possibility of a lifetime period of supervised release.

This case was investigated by ICE's Office of Investigations in Miami and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance from the Philippines Department of Justice. This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Anitha Ibrahim of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marlene Rodriguez of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Five members of an extended family were sentenced to federal prison late yesterday, all receiving lengthy sentences for their roles in an international sex trafficking ring that lured young Guatemalan women and girls to the Los Angeles area and forced them into prostitution, the Justice Department announced.

The five defendants sentenced today - four Guatemalan nationals and one Mexican national - were found guilty in February of various charges, including conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and importation of aliens for purposes of prostitution. Gladys Vasquez Valenzuela, 38, was sentenced to 40 years in prison; Gabriel Mendez, the Mexican national, 35, was sentenced to 35 years; and the other three defendants, Mirna Jeanneth Vasquez Valenzuela, aka Miriam, 28, Maria de los Angeles Vicente, aka Angela, 30, and Maribel Rodriquez Vasquez, 29, were each sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Evidence showed that the defendants intimidated and controlled their victims by threatening to beat them and kill their loved ones in Guatemala if they tried to escape. Some defendants also used witch doctors to threaten the girls that a curse would be placed on them and their families if they tried to escape. At least two of the defendants further restrained the victims by locking them in at night and blocking windows and doors. The defendants also used manipulation of debts, verbal abuse and psychological manipulation to reinforce their control over the victims. The scheme included strict controls over the victims' work schedules and ominous comments about consequences that befell the families of other victims who attempted to escape.

The defendants collected the profits generated by the acts of prostitution the victims were compelled to perform, and maintained control over the proceeds, keeping tens of thousands of dollars while the victims received next to nothing.

"The young girls and women in this case were victimized and exploited in a horrific way, and these sentences should send a stern message to all sex traffickers that they cannot escape justice for such egregious human rights violations," said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "Attorneys in the Civil Rights Division will continue to work with U.S. Attorney's Offices across the nation to stamp out this vicious and intolerable crime, and to seek significant prison sentences for anyone engaging in these despicable acts."

"In this disturbing case, the defendants lured young, uneducated and impoverished women and girls to the United States, where they were forced to work as prostitutes in terrifying conditions," said U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien for the Central District of California. "There were at least 10 victims who were forced into becoming prostitutes under a variety of threats, as well as actual physical attacks that included rapes."

"These sentences are a stern reminder about the consequences facing those involved in the unconscionable practice of human trafficking," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Investigations in Los Angeles. "While we can't erase the suffering these young women experienced, by aggressively investigating and prosecuting these cases, ICE and the other members of the Los Angeles Human Trafficking Task Force are ensuring that those involved in schemes like this pay a significant price for the pain they cause."

Four additional defendants have pleaded guilty for their role in the scheme. Flor Morales Sanchez was sentenced in May to two years in prison; Pablo Bonifacio was sentenced last November to 33 months in prison; Albertina Vasquez Valenzeula, also known as Cristina, was sentenced in February to 33 months in prison. The final defendant, Luis Vicente Vasquez, is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday.

Source: US Dept. of Justice