GEORGIA – Two Mexican nationals were sentenced to long prison sentences for sex trafficking three young women into prostitution in the Atlanta area, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg sentenced the defendants, Arturo Rojas-Coyotl, 28, and Odilon Martinez-Rojas, 43, both of Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, Mexico, to 16 years and nearly 22 years in prison, respectively, for their roles into forcing the women into prostitute in the Atlanta area.
Authorities said details of the sex trafficking crimes indicated that the defendants ran a high volume, low cost business compelling the young women to have sex, at times with upwards of 20 men a night in 15 minute increments, for payment of $30- $35.
The money earned by the victims was split between the defendants and others who drove the young women to the clients.
One of the young women became ill and suffered great pain due to the repeated commercial sex acts she had to endure.
In imposing the sentences, the judge ordered the defendants to pay $180,000 in restitution to the victims.
“Human trafficking is modern-day slavery– period. No matter the label, the of use violence, intimidation, psychological coercion, deception, or fear to exploit fellow human beings is repugnant,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates.
Adding, “The long sentences handed down today are just one of the latest examples of the Justice Department’s unshakable resolve to dismantle human trafficking networks and prosecute those who would commit these unspeakable crimes against some of the most vulnerable in our society.”
In October 2014, the defendants plead guilty to three counts of sex trafficking and three related immigration violations pertaining to three separate victims of their sex trafficking scheme.
Here is the evidence against the defendants, according to authorities:
- In early 2006, Rojas-Coyotl lured a young Mexican national of indigenous heritage using false promises of love, legitimate work and a better life to induce her to travel with him into the United States.
- Upon her arrival in the United States, Rojas-Coyotl and Martinez-Rojas used physical violence, threats, intimidation, deception and psychological manipulation to compel her to engage in prostitution, for the defendants’ profit, in Georgia and Alabama, for over a year and half until she escaped in November 2007.
- In March 2007, Rojas Coyotl and Martinez started romancing two young Guatemalan women and lured them to the United States in October 2007, under the same false pretenses.
- The defendants then employed a nearly identical coercive scheme to compel the young women to prostitute in Georgia and Alabama before they escaped at separate times in early 2008.
- The defendants made the young women fearful of law enforcement and thus, the victims did not immediately come forward.A third co-defendant, Daniel Garcia-Tepal, pleaded guilty to related immigration offenses.
A fourth co-defendant, Severiano Martinez-Rojas, remains a fugitive.