FEDERAL COURT AWARDS OVER $100,000 TO VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that a federal district court in New Jersey has ordered several convicted human traffickers to pay over $100,000 to their victims.

The May order, issued by Judge Faith S. Hochberg of the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, awarded a total of $135,240 to four young Mexican girls previously held in captivity in a Plainfield, New Jersey brothel.

The defendants lured the girls, some as young as 14, from their homes in Mexico with promises of work, marriage, and a better life in America. Instead, they confined the girls to the Plainfield brothel where they forced them to engage in repeated sex acts. The defendants strengthened their hold on the victims through isolation, beatings, threats and psychological coercion. The defendants held all four girls at the brothel until February 2002, when local authorities raided the building. Their periods of captivity ranged from seven to 15 months.

“These girls suffered unspeakable cruelty at the hands of these criminals,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “No amount of dollars can repay them for what they have lost, no restitution can undo their suffering. This order will play a part in helping these girls build a new life.”

Defendants Antonia and Librada Jimenez-Calderon each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of sex trafficking and were each sentenced to 210 months in prison. Defendants Pedro Garcia Burgos, Angel Ruiz, and Maritzana Diaz Lopez each pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking. Burgos was sentenced to 97 months, Ruiz was sentenced to 44 months, and Lopez is awaiting sentencing. Defendant Sergio Farfan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Farfan was not subject to the restitution order. Defendants Delfino and Luis Jimenez-Calderon remain fugitives.

The Bush administration has made fighting human trafficking a significant priority. Since FY 2001, the Justice Department has charged 140 human traffickers – a three-fold increase over the previous three years, and secured convictions of 92 defendants – nearly twice the number convicted during the previous three years. Over the same period, the Justice Department has initiated 283 new trafficking investigations, nearly triple the number opened in the previous three years.

As of April 30, 2004, the 152 pending trafficking investigations were more than twice the number open in January 2001.

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