09-26-2002 -- Jimenez-Calderon et al. -- Superseding Indictment -- News Release

Superseding Indictment Adds New Charges in Case of Forced Prostitution of Mexican Teens

NEWARK - A grand jury today added new charges against five people previously indicted in connection with a scheme to lure young, undocumented Mexican girls into the United States and force them into prostitution at a Plainfield brothel, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

The Superseding Indictment follows the guilty pleas of Angel Ruiz on Tuesday and Pedro Garcia Burgos on Wednesday. Those defendants were named with others in the original Indictment returned in July. The Ruiz and Burgos pleas both were before U.S. District Judge Faith S. Hochberg, who has been assigned the case.

The Superseding Indictment expands the original Indictment from five counts to 26 counts and adds the following charges: Involuntary Servitude; Forced labor; Trafficking Into Servitude; Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud or Coercion; and, Obstruction of Justice against Delfino and Luis Jimenez-Calderon, their sisters Miriam and Laura Jimenez-Calderon. In addition, the Superseding Indictment adds charges of Transportation Into Prostitution and Enticement Into Slavery against Delfino and Luis Jimenez-Calderon, and Obstruction of Justice against Sergio Farfan.

On Tuesday, Ruiz, 50, a.k.a. Rafael Antonio Ruiz, pleaded guilty to a one-count Information, charging Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud or Coercion. Ruiz admitted that he rented the premises located at 12-12 ½ Front Street in Plainfield, and that the premises were used as a house of prostitution and for the unlawful sale of alcohol. Ruiz stated that he benefitted financially from the acts of prostitution and the sale of beer. Ruiz also admitted that he believed some of the prostitutes were under 18 years of age and were forced or coerced to commit acts of prostitution. Ruiz faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and fines of $250,000.

Pedro Garcia Burgos, 35 pleaded guilty to the same charge as Ruiz. Burgos admitted that he resided at 12-12 ½ Front Street in Plainfield and that the location was used as a house of prostitution and for the unlawful sale of alcohol. Burgos admitted knowing that some of the prostitutes employed at the premises were under 18 years of age and they were forced to commit acts of prostitution on a daily basis. Burgos admitted to financially benefitting from the acts of prostitution performed by the victims.

Furthermore, Burgos admitted to assisting Miriam Jimenez-Calderon and Laura Jimenez-Calderon in running the house of prostitution. In doing so, the victims were not allowed to speak with anyone or leave the premises unless they were accompanied by the Calderon sisters or himself. Ruiz also face a maximum sentence of life in prison and fines of $250,000.

(Please see three earlier news releases on the defendants' arrests in March and May, and indictment in July, at the Public Affairs Office website: www.njusao.org ).

Miriam and Laura Jimenez-Calderon were arrested in March, Farfan in April. Each of those defendants remain in custody. Miriam and Laura Jimenez-Calderon are Mexican nationals who are in the United States illegally. Farfan was living in Plainfield.

Delfino and Luis Jimenez-Calderon remain fugitives.

As described in the original and new Indictment and in criminal complaints, the conspirators lured the girls into unfamiliar parts of Mexico and then to the United States with expressions of love, promises of marriage and good-paying jobs in America. Once confined in the brothel, the girls were subjected to threats of harm, force and psychological coercion to compel the girls to work as prostitutes.

The Indictment alleges that, even after the house of prostitution in Plainfield was raided by police, the Jimenez defendants were arrested and the girls were placed into juvenile custody, the conspirators attempted to secure the girls' release and return them to prostitution. Farfan allegedly did that by presenting fraudulent birth certificates suggesting the girls were over the age of 21 to officials at the Union County Juvenile Detention Center.

This is one of the first cases brought under the forced labor and trafficking provisions of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000. The Act was passed by Congress to combat forms of coercion, such as psychological manipulation and intimidation, that traffickers use to hold their victims in conditions of servitude and forced labor. It is only the second case nationwide under the new provision prohibiting sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. If convicted, the defendants face sentences of up to life imprisonment.

This case is the result of a continuing investigation by agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; the U.S. Department of Labor, through the National Worker Exploitation Task Force, which was founded in 2000 to address the problem of modern-day slavery in the United States; and the Union County Prosecutor's Office and Plainfield Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted jointly by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Holmsen of the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, and Trial Attorneys Hilary Axam and Anne Milgram of the Criminal Section of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

Individuals can report other cases of trafficking or slavery to the Trafficking In Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force complaint line, at 1-888-428-7581. Additional information about the Task Force can be found at: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/wetf.html.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

-end-

Defense Attorneys:

Miriam Jimenez-Calderon: Chester Keller, federal Public Defender's Office, Newark

Laura Jimenez-Calderon: Angelo Servidio, Esq. Nutley

Sergio Farfan: Michael Sullivan, Esq. Morristown