Nine Venezuelan nationals have pleaded guilty to federal charges for operating a sex trafficking organization that recruited vulnerable Venezuelan women with false promises of employment, smuggled them into the United States and forced them into prostitution to repay inflated transportation debts, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
According to court documents, the organization arranged for the women to enter the United States illegally before sending them to Nashville, Tennessee, where they were told they owed large smuggling debts that could only be repaid through commercial sex work.
Prosecutors said women who resisted were threatened with violence against themselves and relatives in Venezuela, while the defendants profited from both prostitution proceeds and debt payments.
The Justice Department said through a statement that the operation was led by Yilibeth Carmen Rivero-de Caldera and her son, Kleiver Daniel Mota Rivero, who worked with relatives and associates to recruit victims, facilitate their smuggling, post online advertisements, arrange commercial sex appointments and collect earnings.
Prosecutors said the pair, along with Ramon De Jesus Velasquez Martinez, used firearms and threats to maintain control over the victims. Investigators also said Mota cultivated the belief that he had ties to a Venezuelan prison gang and spoke openly about a prior homicide conviction in Venezuela to intimidate victims.
Rivero, Mota, Frankyanna Del Valle Romero-Rivero and Endrik Alexander Morales-Rivero pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, conspiracy to bring undocumented migrants into the United States for financial gain and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Four other defendants pleaded guilty to related trafficking, smuggling or money laundering charges. Most face a maximum sentence of life in prison, while one defendant faces up to 20 years. Sentencing is scheduled for the week of Nov. 16.
"Human smuggling and trafficking operations represent a dangerous convergence of exploitation and lawlessness," Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said. U.S. Attorney Braden H. Boucek said the organization "exploited vulnerable women, enriched itself through coercion and violence, and showed complete disregard for human dignity and the rule of law."
The case was investigated by the Homeland Security Task Force in Nashville and supported by the Justice Department's Joint Task Force Alpha, which targets transnational human smuggling and trafficking organizations across the Americas.
The guilty pleas come weeks after Spanish authorities dismantled a separate criminal network accused of trafficking Venezuelan women for sexual exploitation in Madrid, Tenerife and other parts of Spain.
In that case, investigators said victims were recruited with false job offers, forced into prostitution to repay transportation debts and threatened if they attempted to leave, highlighting similar trafficking methods targeting economically vulnerable Venezuelan women abroad.
