Woman alleges rape in human trafficking case
By Sergio Chapa
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 5:22 p.m.


A Guatemalan woman is recovering after she was allegedly raped by a man who was supposed to help smuggle her to Houston.

Cameron County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Taurino Rodriguez and Javier Salgado-Martinez on state human trafficking charges on Monday.

Authorities added aggravated kidnapping, unlawful restraint and sexual assault charges against Rodriguez based on the Guatemalan woman’s allegations.

Both men appeared before Cameron County Magistrate Judge Luis Saenz on Wednesday morning.

According to investigators, their alleged victim is an illegal immigrant who paid $7,000 dollars to be smuggled to Houston in October.

The woman traveled from Guatemala to Monterrey and then on to Reynosa before being brought into the Rio Grande Valley.

She alleges that she declined Rodriguez’s advances and that’s when he took her to a tire shop off Commerce Street in Harlingen.

Rodriguez is accused of raping the woman and telling her that, “There’s nothing she could do and that he does that to all the women he helps smuggle.â€