Suspect in forced labor sought by federal agents
SAN DIEGO: A human-trafficking suspect who allegedly enslaved undocumented immigrants is being sought in Mexico after U.S. federal agents serving an arrest warrant at his San Diego home last week failed to find him.

Mario Antonio Antunez Sotelo is wanted on forced-labor charges in addition to bringing in and harboring aliens for financial gain.

He was arrested in December with his wife, Gloria Eugenia Leon Aldana, and two others. The others are in custody, but Antunez, who was released after his arrest, is now believed to be on the run, possibly hiding in Tijuana or in the Acapulco area.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which learned of the case through the local Mexican consulate, is working with the Mexican government in the search.

Among other things, Antunez and his wife are accused of holding at least 10 immigrants in two San Diego homes. Federal agents searching one of those properties found a small bedroom crammed with six beds, and living quarters for others carved into a crawl space beneath the home with mattresses on a dirt floor.

Immigration and Customs spokeswoman Lauren Mack said some victims were held as long as eight months. –L.B.

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