Thread: Two freed on bail in sex ring probe

GreenvilleOnline


Two freed on bail in sex ring probe
Poilce charge men gave transportation, protection to women

Published: Friday, September 14, 2007 - 2:00 am


By Eric Connor
STAFF WRITER
econnor@greenvillenews.com

Two of the four people charged in what authorities are calling a West Greenville prostitution ring involving illegal aliens were free Thursday to leave jail on $50,000 bond, according to court documents.

Fricman Alexander Ramirez, 24, and Carlos Castillo Rodriguez, 37, are subject to house arrest and must maintain gainful employment, according to bond set by U.S. District Magistrate Judge William Cato.

The two local men are accused of being chauffeurs and protection for at least six alleged prostitutes who entered the country illegally from Mexico and El Salvador in a ring that stretches beyond Greenville and involved more than 100 prostitutes over the course of a year, Assistant U.S. Attorney Walt Wilkins said.

Maria Adelfa Letrado, 57, and German Garcia, 43, are being held on immigration charges by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, records said.

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Two others -- Aztlan Jaimes Santana and Rolando Hernandez-Hernandez -- whom authorities said were arrested during a raid related to the ring, are being held on immigration charges, court records show.

Letrado is accused of being a manager of the women, or the "madam," Wilkins said. Garcia is accused of being a chauffeur who would transport the women to various locations from a home on Dorsey Boulevard.

Authorities are searching for a man Wilkins said is the local ringleader.

Authorities have charged that women ages 18 to 24 were kept "under lock and key," and Wilkins said they are being held as material witnesses at women's shelters in Spartanburg and Greenwood.

In some cases, the women would be locked into rooms by a knobless deadbolt with the key on the outside part of the lock, Wilkins said.

A court affidavit alleges the ring was based from a residence at 52 Dorsey Blvd. off Easley Bridge Road.

Investigators staked out the residence and picked through trash bins to find sometimes more than 100 empty condom packages in a single day, the affidavit states.

It alleges that in May 2006, a confidential source gave the Sheriff's Office a business card that advertised prostitution locations in Greenville County.

The Sheriff's Office had responded to 58 Dorsey Ave. in June 2005 to investigate "possible prostitution activity," according to the affidavit.

Further investigation found that electrical service for 58 Dorsey Ave. had been transferred to nearby 52 Dorsey Blvd. under the same customer's name, the affidavit states.

In 2007, an informant provided pictures" to the FBI and the Sheriff's Office that identified 52 Dorsey Blvd. as a place used "to house prostitutes and to facilitate prostitution," the affidavit alleges.

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.d ... /709140324

What... No... your kidding right... More bean pickers are on the wrong side of the law

I've got news for the "authorities" in West Greenville. This was not a "prostitution ring", this was actual SLAVERY!