MEMBER OF MEXICAN TRAFFICKING RING
SENTENCED ON INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE CHARGES

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Ralph F. Boyd, Jr. and Marcos Daniel Jiménez, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, today announced the sentence of an individual on involuntary servitude charges.

Hugo Cadena-Sosa of Mexico was sentenced in federal District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida by United States District Judge Kenneth L. Ryskamp to sixty months imprisonment and two years of supervised release. Cadena-Sosa pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to hold women and girls from Mexico in involuntary servitude.

In addition, Judge Ryskamp ordered that the defendant be held jointly liable for paying the victims $1,000,000 in restitution, an amount previously assessed against his uncle, Rogerio Cadena, and four other co-defendants. Cadena-Sosa was also ordered to pay $100 in special assessments.

“Sex trafficking is a heinous form of modern-day slavery," said Ralph Boyd, Jr. "We must work together to protect these most vulnerable victims and do everything we can to stop it,” added Boyd.

On September 12, 2002, the defendant guilty to conspiring with other family members to hold women and girls from Mexico in involuntary servitude. In April 1998,

Cadena-Sosa and fourteen others were charged, by superseding indictment, with conspiring to lure women and girls from Mexico to Florida with promises of good jobs and better lives. The defendants forced the women into prostitution and held them as sexual slaves in brothel houses in Florida and the Carolinas from August 1996 to February 1998.

Cadena-Sosa, a fugitive since 1997, was arrested for illegal re-entry on May 14, 2002. He was taken into custody on his outstanding FBI warrant and arraigned on the pending federal civil rights charges. Cadena-Sosa is a member of the Cadena family from Veracruz, Mexico, who is alleged to have smuggled young Mexican females into the United States to work in Cadena’s brothel houses in Fort Pierce, Okeechobee, Avon Park, Palm Beach, Lake Worth and Fort Myers, Florida.

According to evidence outlined in the plea agreement, and the arguments made at sentencing, the defendant admitted the victims were forced to work at the Cadena’s brothel houses as prostitutes until they paid the Cadena family a $2,000 smuggling fee. In some cases, the victims were locked in a room with no windows and given no money, and were threatened with beatings and reprisal attacks against their families in Mexico. Several victims, many of whom were underage, attempted to escape but were captured and returned to the brothels, where they were punished by beatings and confinement.

“The freedom of those in our country cannot and will not be compromised in any way. This District is committed to the prosecution of those who trade in and profit from the trafficking of human lives,” said United States Attorney Marcos Daniel Jiménez.

Seven others who have pled guilty to civil rights conspiracy charges in this case are serving sentences ranging from two and a half to ten years. Six members of the Cadena family charged in the superseding indictment remain at large. The fugitives are Juan Luis Cadena, Carmen Cadena, Rafael Alberto Cadena, Abel Cadena, Antonia Sosa and Patricio Sosa.

The Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida commend the investigative work of the United States Border Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI continues to investigate the case and is conducting efforts to ensure that the fugitives are brought to justice.

The Criminal Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Pierce Division, prosecuted this case jointly.

Individuals can report cases of human trafficking or slavery to the toll-free complaint line, at 1-888-428-7581. Information about the Department of Justice’s anti-trafficking efforts can be found at www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/tpwetf.htm. <http://www.usdoj.gov>

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