Thread: Five illegals charged in MD prostitution ring

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-1 ... ing-scheme

Five illegal immigrants charged in Maryland prostitution scheme
Three men in custody, two still at large
November 16, 2010|By Tricia Bishop, The Baltimore Sun

Five illegal immigrants living in Maryland have been federally charged in connection with a prostitution ring that ran brothels in Annapolis and Easton, among other state locations, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

Charged in the criminal complaint are: German de Jesus Ventura, 32, of Capitol Heights; Kerlin Esau Esquivel-Feuntes, 23, of Annapolis; and Luis Alberto Reyes, 28, Isidro Jiminez-Sanchez, 32, and Wibert Alejandro Herrera-Aranda, 32, all of Easton. Esquivel-Fuentes and Reyes are fugitives, and the others are in custody, according to prosecutors.

The defendants, who are accused of transporting sex workers across state lines and threatening violence against "competitor pimps," face a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.

This is MUCH bigger than it seems. This is most likely a very large organized crime situation here.

Maryland is a sanctuary state, and stories like this prove it. Our governor refers to illegal aliens as "New Americans", and any attempts at solving Maryland's illegal alien problem is labeled a "racist."

We need help here.

Here's the updated story:

Prostitution ring busted
Violent interstate enterprise alleged

Federal agents and Annapolis police raided three locations in Annapolis and Prince George's County Monday and arrested three men after a two-year investigation into an alleged interstate prostitution ring that spawned a wave of related violence, authorities announced yesterday afternoon.

Federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, were joined by city police who had initiated the investigation following a September 2008 shooting incident in which a man was killed and an alleged prostitute was seriously wounded in a car on Janwall Street off Forest Drive.

The investigation into the murder of Ricardo Humberto Rivas-Ramirez, 34, and the shooting of the woman at 12:30 a.m. Sept. 13, 2008, led to the unraveling of the suspected prostitution enterprise and Monday's arrests, authorities said.

As Annapolis detectives worked the case, it was apparent the operation had spread to multiple jurisdictions.

In March of this year other agencies - including ICE, police in Easton and Washington, D.C., and Delaware and Virginia state police - were brought in to assist. Authorities said the case came under federal jurisdiction when evidence was found that the women involved in the ring were transported across state lines.

Five people were charged under a federal statute covering transporting or aiding and abetting the transport of people for the purpose of prostitution.

Three were taken into custody and two remained at large yesterday, authorities said.

The alleged ring leader, German de Jesus Ventura, 32, of Capitol Heights, was arrested in Prince George's County.

Two others, Isidoro Jiminez-Sanchez and Wibert Alejandro Herrera-Aranda, both 32, were arrested in Easton.

Luis Alberto Reyes, 28, of no fixed address, and Kerlin Esau Esquivel-Fuentes, 23, of Annapolis, were still fugitives last night.

Officials said all the suspects are illegal aliens.

A 45-page affidavit states that since at least September 2008, the same month as the murder and shooting on Janwall Street, "Ventura has run brothels in Annapolis, Easton and elsewhere in Maryland."

It also said he operated the enterprise "using and threatening to use violence against competitor pimps."

The complaint also laid out information showing that three others - Esquivel-Fuentes, Jiminez-Sanchez and Herrera-Aranda - assisted in the operation of the brothels, while Reyes allegedly transported the women and purchased supplies.

Ventura had an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore yesterday, and will have a detention hearing at 2 p.m. tomorrow, U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Marcia Murphy said.

It is likely the two in custody in Talbot County will be brought to Baltimore to face federal charges today or tomorrow, Murphy added. She said it is common - but not mandatory - for the state to decline to prosecute state charges and turn suspects over to federal jurisdiction.
Began with murder

Over 20 pages of the affidavit filed in U.S. District Court discuss repeated threats, arrests, complaints and other details related to the operation at multiple addresses in Annapolis, including Janwall Street, Melrob Court and the Carver Street apartment that was raided Monday.

But the story begins with the murder on Janwall Street.

According to The Capital's archives, neighbors told police they saw a 2002 black Cadillac moving slowly down the hill toward Tyler Avenue. The car rolled into a driveway at the end of the street, hit a white Ford pickup and stopped. The car's horn blared the whole way down.

Inside were Rivas-Ramirez, pronounced dead at the scene, and the woman, a prostitute who had been in Annapolis for just one day.

The woman was flown to the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

After several weeks, she was released and told detectives she was a prostitute, had taken a bus to Maryland from New York, and was transported by Rivas-Ramirez to Annapolis the day before the shooting to have sex with Hispanic men, according to the criminal complaint.

She told police she was at a home in the 100 block of Janwall Street to provide sexual services for several men the night before the shooting.

The woman also provided detectives with a notebook that contained phone numbers of pimps, the complaint says.
Pieces of puzzle

Police believe the shooting was related to the ring taken down Monday.

Other pieces of the puzzle included separate prostitution busts on South Villa Avenue and at the same Carver Street apartment hit Monday.

Just days before the murder, city police busted prostitution operations at 31 Carver St. and 112 South Villa. On Sept. 24, police arrested three others on prostitution and related charges at the same Carver Street apartment.

All those incidents found women involved in prostitution who had been brought to Annapolis from Prince George's County and elsewhere.

The affidavit also outlines several instances in which people were threatened with violence, or worse.

It also notes robberies, strong-arm tactics, and firearms displayed by those running the operation to intimidate competitors and others.

Nearly lost in all the details of the case is the underlying human toll on the women, who were sometimes forced into prostitution. The affidavit details how women would be brought to a location to begin working on a Monday and keep men occupied straight through the following Sunday.

"This investigation is an excellent example of federal and local law enforcement working cooperatively to dismantle a criminal organization that used violence to ensure their organization continued to profit from the exploitation of women," said William Winter, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Baltimore.

Once the case grew to involve other jurisdictions, the resources available to federal agencies to pursue such cases were key.

"These arrests and search warrants are the result of many months of hard work," Annapolis Police Chief Michael Pristoop said in a prepared statement. "Human trafficking, prostitution and associated violence are intolerable in any community."

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/t ... .html?ne=1

YET ANOTHER ARTICLE WITH MORE DETAILS ON THIS STORY:

(I cut some paragraphs from the full article, just to highlight the main information. Full article link is attached below)

The self-proclaimed boss of Annapolis prostitution controlled his brothel business with threats and violence, federal authorities say.

According to a federal special agent's affidavit, the people who turned against him had motives of their own. Some were scared prostitutes. Some had received death threats, were running a rival prostitution operation or had loved ones who were killed.

Now, Ventura faces a prostitution-related charge that could send him to prison for 10 years. Two of his alleged associates, Isidro Jimenez-Sanchez and Wilbert Alejando Herrera-Aranda, also have been charged. Investigators are looking for Kerlin Esau Esquivel-Fuentes and Luis Alberto Reyes. All five are illegal aliens, records say.

The investigation expanded from a murder case into a multistate prostitution probe.

Shortly after the raid, a family member of one of the arrested prostitutes received a death threat from someone calling from Ventura's cell phone. Later, gasoline was poured into the family's home and a car window was smashed, records show.


http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/t ... .html?ne=1

HippieChick: It makes me sick for our state. Please join if not already: http://www.helpsavemaryland.com/

Originally Posted by Watson

HippieChick: It makes me sick for our state. Please join if not already: http://www.helpsavemaryland.com/

Yes, I have been a member for some time now. I do what I can, I spread the word, and keep fighting the fight!