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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM |
FIVE CHARGED WITH SEX TRAFFICKING A JUVENILE GIRL IN TENNESSEE
WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury in Tennessee today charged five individuals with sex trafficking of a juvenile girl. Juan Mendez, Cristina Andres Perfecto, Raymundo Flores, Raul Santillan-Leon, and Fernando Reyes-Santillan were charged with causing a minor to engage in commercial sex acts. Mendez and Andres Perfecto were further charged with using force, fraud, and coercion to make the girl engage in the commercial sex acts. All five defendants were also charged with conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens, relating to the operation of a brothel in Memphis, Tenn. If convicted, Mendez and Andres Perfecto could be sentenced to life in prison, while Flores, Santillan-Leon, and Reyes-Santillan each face up to 40 years on the child sex trafficking count, 20 years for the money laundering conspiracy, and 10 years for the conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens.
This indictment supersedes an October 24, 2006 indictment, and incorporates additional alien harboring and prostitution-related charges in the original indictment against Flores, Santillan-Leon, Reyes-Santillan, and seven other defendants. Mendez and Andres Perfecto were additionally charged with another count of using force, fraud, and coercion to make another adult woman engage in a commercial sex act. Mendez, Andres Perfecto, Santillan-Leon, and Reyes-Santillan have been taken into federal custody.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Memphis Police Department and the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steve Parker and Rae Oliver of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee and trial attorney Jonathan Skrmetti from the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice are prosecuting the case.
Human trafficking prosecutions are a top priority of the Justice Department. In the last six fiscal years, the Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with U.S. Attorneys' Offices, has increased by six-fold the number of human trafficking cases filed in court, quadrupled the number of defendants charged, and tripled the number of defendants convicted. In 2006, the Department obtained a record number of convictions in human trafficking prosecutions.