A 46-year-old Mexican national, Rafael Alberto Cadena-Sosa, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a family run sex trafficking organization based in southern Florida.
Cadena-Sosa was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Joes E. Martinez on October 9, 2014, to serve 15 years in prison for conspiring and holding a person in a condition of involuntary servitude. He was also ordered to pay $1,261,563 in restitution to 16 different victims.
The indictment alleges that Cadena-Sosa, along with other family members and associates, approached women and girls as young as 14 years old in Veracruz, Mexico, and lured them into coming to the United States using false promises of legitimate jobs.
After illegally smuggling women and girls into the United States, Cadena-Sosa and other family members imposed a smuggling debt and used brutal physical force and violence, sexual assaults, and threats of death and bodily harm to the victims and their families to compel the victims to engage in prostitution 12 hours a day, six days a week and turn over the proceeds to the defendants to pay down the smuggling debts the defendants imposed.
In addition to his prison sentence, Cadena-Sosa faces a restitution order of $1,261,563 for the harm caused to the victims.
This case is part of an ongoing effort by law enforcement agencies to dismantle human trafficking networks operating across the U.S.-Mexico border and bring human traffickers to justice. The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) with assistance from the Mexican authorities.
The prosecution of this case was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Related Federal Cases
- Edward Walker, Sex Trafficking, Florida 2020 · Florida
- Henry Lee White, Sex Trafficking, Florida 2022 · Florida
- Mateus Fernandes Evangelista Da Silva, Child Sex Trafficking, Florida 2021 · Florida
- Shannima Yuantrell Session, Sex Trafficking, Florida 2011 · Florida
- Dontae Dajuan Burton, Sex Trafficking, Florida 2024 · Florida
Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Sex Crimes|Human Trafficking
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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