Friday, Jul 18, 2008

Posted on Fri, Jul. 18, 2008 Man gets 14 years in SC human trafficking case
By MEG KINNARD - Associated Press Writer

COLUMBIA, S.C. --One of two illegal immigrants charged with smuggling a teenage girl into South Carolina and forcing her into prostitution was sentenced Friday to more than 14 years in prison.

Jesus Perez-Laguna was also ordered to pay $52,500 in restitution during a federal court hearing in Columbia, the U.S. Justice Department said. U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. also ordered that he be deported after his release and never be allowed to re-enter the United States.

Perez-Laguna and a co-defendant, Ciro Bustos-Rosales, 36, pleaded guilty in September, admitting that they transported the 14-year-old girl across the U.S.-Mexico border and into South Carolina, via North Carolina, to force her into prostitution.

In April, Bustos-Rosales was sentenced to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay restitution. Authorities are still searching for a third defendant, Guadalupe Reyes-Rivera.

In June 2006, the defendants arranged for the girl to be smuggled into the country under the pretense of getting restaurant work. She was taken to Charlotte, N.C., several locations in South Carolina and eventually Columbia, where she was forced "to perform acts of prostitution and turn over the proceeds," according to a sworn statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Craig Hannah.

Prosecutors said Perez-Laguna and Bustos-Rosales marketed their business by passing out business cards and hired drivers to transport women to meet with clients, according to court documents. Federal agents have said a 19-year-old girl and 31-year-old woman also were involved in the prostitution ring.

Immigration officials in the U.S learned from affiliates in Mexico that the 14-year-old had been smuggled into the U.S. and forced into prostitution in Columbia, according to Hannah. After authorities located the 14-year-old, she told agents she had been smuggled into the country, brought to South Carolina and forced to perform sex acts, Hannah said.

Perez-Laguna was detained in March 2007 on suspicion of holding or transporting illegal immigrants for prostitution and indicted on the trafficking charges several months later.

"This is a fitting end to a disturbing case," said Walt Wilkins, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina. "Mr. Perez-Laguna had no regard whatsoever for the young girls he enslaved and victimized."

Perez-Laguna's attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Wilkins declined to say what has been done with the 14-year-old girl, who was identified by her initials in the indictment. Standard procedure, he said, would be to move her to a federally protected safehouse after the arrests and allow visits with her family from Mexico.

Once the case was resolved, the girl would have the option either to return home or could apply for a green card to stay in the U.S., Wilkins said.


http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/464887.html