Six men who have confessed to smuggling women and girls over the Mexican border for use as prostitutes were ordered to pay a total of $1 million to their victims and to serve between 2 1/2 and 6 1/2 years in prison. The group’s leader, Rogerio Cadena, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and also fined $1 million.
The prostitution ring was centered in brothels in Florida and South Carolina. Two 15-year-old victims are credited for the men’s arrest. The girls escaped and then reported what had happened to the Mexican consulate.
Girls were lured to the U.S. from Mexico with promises of work and a better life. The prostitution rings leaders then forced them to have sex with more than a hundred men each week and then paid them only enough to pay for their room and board.
