July 25, 2006, 12:25PM

Another conviction in Houston prostitution ring

By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

A son of the accused leader of a human trafficking organization pleaded guilty today and another son was sentenced to five years in prison for their roles in forcing Mexican women to work as prostitutes in Houston bars.

The guilty plea by Ivan Salazar, 19, is the fifth conviction since six people in the organization were indicted last year. The only indicted member remaining to be convicted is the accused leader, Gerardo "El Gallo" Salazar, who remains a fugitive.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore sentenced Ivan Salazar's brother, Juan Carlos Salazar, 20, to the maximum of five years in prison following his earlier guilty plea to a charge of sex trafficking-conspiracy.

Gilmore last week sentenced two other members of the organization to five years in prison and one to four years and three months following their guilty pleas to sex-trafficking conspiracy.

The attorney for Juan Carlos Salazar, Adrian Almaguer, argued that his client was 2 years old when his father abandoned the family and that he was reunited with his father at 18.

"He got hoodwinked by the old man," and joined the conspiracy, Almaguer said, to win the love of his father.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Magliolo said, "He did a very good job of pleasing his father."

Ivan Salazar was the only member of the organization to plead guilty to transporting illegal immigrants, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors accused the members of the organization of forcing Mexican women into prostitution in Mexico and of bringing them illegally into the United States to work in Houston bars.

The women were beaten and kept in prostitution with threats of violence against them and their families, prosecutors said.

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