SECOND MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN GEORGIA HUMAN TRAFFICKING CASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that Jose Reyes Rojas pleaded guilty to a sex trafficking charge for his role in promoting and profiting from the commercial sexual exploitation of a Mexican juvenile.

Reyes Rojas’s younger brother, Juan, pleaded guilty in May to fraudulently inducing the 16-year-old girl and another Mexican teenager into coming to the United States. He admitted to using a combination of physical abuse, threats, and isolation to force both victims to perform multiple commercial sex acts with between 10 and 25 men a night. A third brother, co-defendant Raul Reyes Rojas, is a fugitive who remains charged with sex trafficking, immigration-related offenses, and conspiracy.

“Human traffickers inflict unfathomable misery on their victims,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. “The disgusting nature of these crimes demands vigorous prosecution. The Justice Department remains committed to aggressively pursuing those who attempt to profit by the systematic abuse and degradation of others.”

In today’s agreement, Reyes Rojas admitted knowing that his brother Juan lured the juvenile to the United States with promises of legitimate employment and long-term romance. Reyes Rojas helped fund the smuggling of the juvenile into the United States and then transported the victim to Atlanta, where he and his brothers profited from her forced commercial sexual exploitation.

Sentencing for both Jose and Juan Reyes Rojas will occur on November 19, 2004. The maximum penalty Jose Reyes Rojas faces is 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Juan Reyes Rojas faces the same maximum penalty for each of the two offenses to which he pled guilty.

The Bush Administration has made fighting human trafficking a significant priority. Since FY 2001, the Justice Department has charged 154 human traffickers--more than double the number charged in the previous four years--and secured convictions for 109 defendants, nearly twice the number convicted during the previous four years. Over the same period, the Department has initiated 330 new trafficking investigations, a more than three-fold increase over the previous four years. As of August 23, 2004, the 180 pending trafficking investigations were almost triple the number open in January 2001.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. The case is being jointly prosecuted by attorneys from the Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office.

###

04-587