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Three brothers sentenced in Brooklyn Federal Court for international sex trafficking

February 7, 2014 From U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York
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Three brothers were recently sentenced in Brooklyn’s federal court for the Eastern District of New York to lengthy prison terms after they pleaded guilty to sex trafficking charges.

Benito Lopez-Perez and Anastasio Romero-Perez were sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release. Jose Gabino Barrientos-Perez was sentenced to 10 years and one month of imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

The defendants, who are Mexican nationals, transported Mexican females from Mexico to the United States illegally, forcing them to work as prostitutes in New York City and elsewhere. The sex trafficking involved at least four victims, and the defendants used various methods to force these women and girls to work as prostitutes, ranging from abduction, rape, assault and threats of violence to psychological coercion.

One minor victim, identified in court papers as Jane Doe 1, was primarily trafficked by the defendant Benito Lopez-Perez. Jane Doe 1 met Lopez-Perez in 2005 in Mexico when she was 14 years old.

After the two of them attended a movie as part of a group, Lopez-Perez took Jane Doe 1 to his family home and raped her. He then forced her into prostitution, first in Mexico and later, after arranging to smuggle her across the border, in the United States, where Barrientos-Perez also participated in the victim’s sex trafficking. Jane Doe 1 was required to service 10 to 40 clients per day, on threat of physical abuse, and was kept under the defendants’ control for five years until she escaped in 2010.

“The defendants preyed upon the young and vulnerable, abducting one of their victims at age 14 and forcing them into a life of sexual slavery in Mexico and the United States,” said United States Attorney for the Eastern District Loretta Lynch.

Special Agent-in-Charge James Hayes echoed that sentiment, stating: “No prison sentence can ever do justice for the pain and suffering experienced by these victims, but knowing that justice has been served on their tormentors will hopefully allow for the beginning of a healing process that these women so justly deserve.”

The Perez brothers’ sentences are the latest in the comprehensive anti-trafficking program, which has to date indicted over 55 defendants in sex trafficking cases and rescued over 100 victims, including over 17 minors.

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