McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A madam from Mexico pleaded guilty to a federal prostitution charge on Thursday in McAllen, Texas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained Jaqueline Rios Garcia De La Cadena, 33, of Mexico and two other women in April when they attempted to cross the Hidalgo bridge.
The women said Rios had booked a flight to Houston, where they planned to work as prostitutes.
“Guilty,” Rios said Thursday morning, when she appeared before a judge at the federal courthouse in McAllen.
Rios attempted to cross the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge at roughly 9:50 a.m. on April 2.
She arrived with two women, who were identified by prosecutors as Material Witness 1 and Material Witness 2. They presented Customs and Border Protection with tourist visas.
“They were supposed to go to Houston, Texas, to meet some friends,” Kyle Vollmer, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, testified during a hearing on April 8.
Rios and Material Witness 1 said they were traveling separately.
Officers, however, became suspicious because Rios and Material Witness 1 had similar travel plans.
Data collected by CBP also showed Rios and Material Witness 1 had a history of crossing the border together.
Officers sent them to secondary inspection.
Questions also surfaced about Material Witness 2.
When she presented CBP with her visa, an officer “identified her as the subject of another investigation, and he also looked at her crossing history as well,” Vollmer said. “And saw some discrepancies.”
Officers questioned Material Witness 2 about her travel plans.
“She told the CBP officers, ‘Hey, yeah, we are actually going to Houston, and it’s going to be to meet these men in Houston,’” Vollmer said. “’And we are going to be prostituted — we are going to engage in sexual activity for approximately $1,500.’”
Rios confessed to coordinating the trip.
“Her job in all of this was, basically: There’s a conspirator in Houston, and he reaches out to her whenever he wants females to escort and engage in sexual activity in Houston,” Vollmer said.
They needed a third woman for the April trip, Vollmer said, so a mutual friend connected Rios with Material Witness 2.
“They actually met in person and Ms. Rios laid everything out,” Vollmer said. “She said: You will be engaging in sexual activity for X amount of money.”
Someone provided Rios with 28,000 pesos to pay for the travel arrangements, Vollmer said. That money covered the cost of round-trip flights from McAllen to Houston.
Vollmer said Material Witness 1 and Material Witness 2 were both adults, and the government had no proof they had been threatened or coerced.
“Her and Material Witness 1 had made this same exact trip before,” Vollmer said. “But this was going to be the first time with this third girl — Material Witness No. 2.”
During the hearing, Vollmer also corrected a mistake in the criminal complaint against Rios, which mixed up Material Witness 1 and Material Witness 2 in at least one instance.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Yvonne Marie Gomez, who represented Rios during the hearing, emphasized that both women agreed to engage in prostitution.
“So they know where they’re going. They know what they’re doing,” Gomez said. “It’s not as if they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexa D. Parcell, who is prosecuting the case, said whether they agreed to engage in prostitution didn’t matter.
“Furthermore, your honor, we can almost make her synonymous to a madam. There is no difference between somebody running, per se, a brothel. Coordinating the money, the services. That is almost synonymous with what we have here,” Parcell said. “We have somebody who is speaking to parties in Houston, parties in Mexico. Facilitating the event. Facilitating the girls. And then facilitating the transportation of those girls into the United States, and then further to Houston.”
Rios confessed to making two other trips before she was caught, Parcell said.
“So this is not just a one-off: We’re just going to hang out with friends, and sex is somewhat of a benefit,” Parcell said. “They are going there for the purposes — to be paid for their services. That is escorting. That is prostitution.”
Rios returned to court Thursday morning wearing a black shirt with “Vogue” written on the back, imitation-leather pants and Nike athletic shoes.
During a brief hearing, she pleaded guilty to transporting two people for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.
Sentencing is scheduled for August.
While she faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison, Rios probably will receive a much shorter sentence — perhaps just 6 to 12 months.
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