Thread: Rental houses were brothels, illegal immigrant prostitutes

Rental houses were brothels, officials allegeInvestigators say illegal immigrants worked as prostitutes in Newport News and Williamsburg.
By DAVID MACAULAY | 247-7838
5:55 AM EST, February 13, 2009
NEWPORT NEWS - Investigators say Hispanic illegal immigrants working as prostitutes in rental houses used as brothels in Newport News and Williamsburg received playing cards from clients as proof of payment.

They say that the clients first paid three people accused of running the brothels and that the three gave the clients playing cards in return.

The prostitutes would later redeem the cards for $15 each.

The insight into the highly regulated brothels that federal prosecutors say three people ran on the Peninsula forms part of an indictment handed down Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Newport News.



Emma Tlacoxolal-Perez, 36, and Felipe Vargas-Ortega, 46, both of Williamsburg; and Francisco Sanchez-Martinez, 33, of Newport News face conspiracy charges related to operating brothels in James City County, Newport News and Chesapeake, the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release.

Tlacoxolal-Perez faces additional charges of re-entry of a removed alien, coercion and enticement, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering.

Vargas-Ortega faces additional charges of use of a false Social Security number, aggravated identity theft, coercion and enticement, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering, said Dana J. Boente, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to the indictment, the defendants and co-conspirators induced Hispanic women from Maryland, New Jersey, New York and the District of Columbia to travel to Virginia to work as prostitutes.

The indictment alleges that upon payment for sexual services, the customers would receive a poker-style playing card from one of the co-conspirators.

The customer would then turn the card over to a prostitute as proof of payment.

At the end of employment, the prostitute would turn all cards over to one of the co-conspirators, who would pay the prostitute $15 for each card.

The release said, "The women, many of whom were from Mexico and various other countries in Central America, were illegally in the United States.

"The indictment alleges that the co-conspirators would rent various houses in Hampton Roads, including Newport News, Chesapeake and Williamsburg, and have them ply their trade."

Prosecutors say the money from the prostitution was used to pay other people involved in the transportation of the prostitutes, as well as for the operation of the brothels.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, James City County Police Department and the Newport News Police Department.

http://www.newsday.com/news/dp-local_pr ... 6641.story

But the owner of the property is not aiding and abetting for rental income? Just wondering were to draw a line. Rent paid on time?

Originally Posted by vmonkey56

But the owner of the property is not aiding and abetting for rental income? Just wondering were to draw a line. Rent paid on time?

I think it depends on what the owner did or did not know. If I owned a house in California, and decided to rent it out when I moved here (I didn't, who could afford a house in california), and THOUGHT that I was renting to a young family or a couple of college kids and was clueless as to what was going on in my house back there, no there should not be charges. If the owners were going through a licensed management company and trusted them to collect rents and take care of the business end of the property, and the owners did not know what was going on, no they should not be held on charges. If the owners DID know what was going on, and they contacted the authorities to remove these probably armed and dangerous people, no charges against them should be filed. Now if the owner DID know what was going on, and DID NOT contact the authorities, then charges should be filed

Well it is good to see more of those hard WORKING GIRLS out making their nights wages to help support their seperated families! And at $15.oo a pop! What else could you get with that kind of CHEAP LABOR!

So as long as we think we are renting to Legal Citizens, landowners have no duty to check or E-Verify legal status of tenants, never. Why even check employment or get references?

Added to home PAge
http://www.alipac.us/article3976.html

Originally Posted by vmonkey56

So as long as we think we are renting to Legal Citizens, landowners have no duty to check or E-Verify legal status of tenants, never. Why even check employment or get references?

Actually, a number of court decisions have stated that landlords who DO CHECK STATUS are guilty of discrimination and can face penalties.

cayla99 SAID :


Actually, a number of court decisions have stated that landlords who DO CHECK STATUS are guilty of discrimination and can face penalties.



cayla99 , can you tell a little more about these decisions ...


FedUpinFarmersBranch

Originally Posted by FedUpinFarmersBranch

cayla99 SAID :


Actually, a number of court decisions have stated that landlords who DO CHECK STATUS are guilty of discrimination and can face penalties.



cayla99 , can you tell a little more about these decisions ...


FedUpinFarmersBranch

My original research was on my now dead computer, I can't find the exact articles that I had a year ago, but I did find the following (because of the number of articles, I am only giving links so this post is not pages long)

http://immigrantpolitics.org/2007/10/12 ... rdinances/

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:hzS ... =firefox-a

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:bp6 ... =firefox-a

Jeff Holman, with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, writes that he is unaware of any state laws or local ordinances that pertain specifically to landlords renting to undocumented immigrants.

Because the state Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in housing, a landlord's questions about immigration status could be discriminatory and illegal under the act. If a landlord asks about the immigration status of potential renters because they appear to be of a particular ethnic group or speak with an accent, and then does not offer the unit to them, this could be evidence that the landlord considered national origin (and possibly immigration status) in the selection.


http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/27 ... c:_Yyc:aUU

cayla99

From what i saw i did not see any indication that anyone was found guilty of discrimination as a result of asking immigration status , I was not aware
ca and ri had passed these laws .Of course you will get in trouble by profiling , the human rights act deals with discrimination and not legal status . We are trying to have the city approve the legality of all renters ,checked by the SS database,
and anyone wanting to live here has to fill out the rental application .
Thanks for the info .

FedUpinFarmersBranch