EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A lawyer and several other people were recently arrested after a year-long human trafficking investigation in El Paso County, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Texas DPS says over the last year, investigators discovered an international network of human smugglers and traffickers extending from Cuba through Central America and Mexico in the El Paso area.
Texas DPS says nine people were arrested on a variety of charges, including prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, online promotion of prostitution, possession of a controlled substance, alien inadmissibility, solicitation of prostitution, and engaging in organized criminal activity.
Some of the individuals accused of prostitution in this case were being represented in court by Mario Ortiz Saroldi, 38, of El Paso.
Through further investigation, officials determined that Ortiz Saroldi had solicited some of those clients for sexual acts. He was arrested and charged with solicitation of prostitution and booked into the El Paso County Jail.
DPS says Yasiel Rodriguez-Amaro, 31, and Katherine Ventura-Amaro, 37, both from El Paso, were also arrested for aggravated promotion of prostitution, online promotion of prostitution, and possession of a controlled substance. Both were booked into the El Paso County Jail.
DPS says it was determined that once victims were in the U.S., female victims from Cuba were forced into prostitution to pay off smugglers who brought them into the country.
Different co-conspirators were responsible for advertising victims online and transporting them to distinct locations throughout El Paso to engage in prostitution.
Texas DPS did not identify others who were arrested and added that the investigation is ongoing.
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