COLUMBIA, S.C. — Two men have been charged with human trafficking in connection to buying and selling a 19-year-old woman as a “sex slave.”
The Department of Justice announced that Alfonso Orozco Juarez, 35, and Robert Hubert, 66, were charged via criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
According to the report, Hubert was arrested in his home in Roebuck, SC and made his appearance in court in Greenville last week.
Juarez was arrested at his home in Dallas and made his initial appearance in court in Dallas on Wednesday.
“This victim endured horrific abuse at the hands of these defendants. It’s unthinkable and frankly, difficult to learn that this type of thing is happening in our District,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. “I am grateful that our North Texas Human Trafficking Task Force was able to act swiftly and aggressively. The Northern District of Texas and its partners in the District of New Mexico are committed to ending the scourge of human trafficking, one brutal case at a time.”
“Anyone that is involved in human trafficking activities – either as a member of a transnational criminal organization, a business owner exploiting his/her employees, or a street level pimp – should be viewed as a vicious predator. These despicable people who enrich themselves by exploiting the innocent have no place amongst law-abiding citizens and HSI will always combat it with every resource at our disposal. We will continue to collaborate with any law enforcement agency at any level of government in our shared efforts to bring human traffickers to justice,” said Ryan L. Spradlin, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Dallas.
According to the report, Juarez contacted the Santa Fe-based victim on a dating app in 2019. In September of 2019 they met in person in a Dallas motel room. According to the criminal complaint, Juarez 'pistol whipped' the victim, bruising her hand and jaw. He later gave her a “slave name” and threatened to kill her and her family if she did not consent to being sold for sex. At one point, Juarez pointed an unloaded gun at her head and pulled the trigger.
Juarez repeatedly sold the victim for commercial sex, according to the report. Juarez advertised her as a "salve" on a website where he offered to sell her to the highest bidder. Hubert, screen name “The Darkest Lord,” offered $5,000.
In text messages with Hubert, Juarez referred to the victim as “the property” and bragged that she “submitted fully” after he “pistol whip[ped]” her.
“She’s totally dependent on me,” he wrote.
“SWEET,” Mr. Hubert responded. “I will take the slave.”
The men met up at a gas station in Dallas, where Hubert put the victim in his car to drive her to his home in South Carolina, according to the report. Hubert put a metal collar around her neck, threatened to brand her, and provided her with a list of “fetishes he likes.” The victim then texted Juarez asking for help.
“I’m afraid if I don’t do something, he’s going to hurt me,” she said.
“Endure what you have to,” he responded. “He’ll punish you whip you . . . but not kill you.”
After reaching Hubert's home, the victim was taken to a room described as a "dungeon" where Hubert required her to “be naked all the time.” The victim then persuaded Hubert to let her call her parents.
According to the report, the victim's father begged for his daughter to be let go, but Hubert said he had purchased her for $5,000 and demanded the same in exchange for her safe return.
He even sent the victim’s father a “contract,” signed by both Juarez and Hubert, as proof of the “sale.” Eventually, Hubert relented, and the victim was able to escape by bus.
According to the release, a criminal complaint is merely an allegation of wrongdoing, not evidence. Like all defendants, Juarez and Hubert are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
If convicted, both face up to life in federal prison.
Homeland Security Investigations and the North Texas Trafficking Task Force conducted the investigation with substantial support from the Crime Strategies Unit with the 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office in Albuquerque, NM. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Briggs and Rebekah Ricketts of the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Letitia Simms of the District of New Mexico.
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