Fifteen people were indicted in connection with an alleged sex trafficking ring that coerced women into prostitution by paying for their travel from Venezuela to the United States and then forced them to work off the so-called debt, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Tuesday.
Ten of the defendants are charged with sex trafficking, including two who are also charged with sex trafficking of a child. All 15 are charged with conspiracy in the fifth degree and promoting prostitution in the third degree, according to prosecutors.
Beginning in July 2023, members of the ring allegedly paid for more than a dozen women to travel from Venezuela and nearby countries, lending them money for plane tickets and hotel arrangements.
Once the women arrived in the New York City area, they were expected to engage in prostitution and hand over the proceeds to pay down the loans, officials said. Prosecutors said the debts continued to grow with interest and additional “operational costs,” including fees for online ads, car services, phones and brothels.
“This wide-ranging operation recruited women who were seeking to come to the United States from Venezuela and demanded repayment through prostitution,” Bragg said. “Monetary control, including predatory cycles of debt, is a common element of coercion used by sex traffickers.”
Prosecutors said the conspirators kept copies of the women’s passports and identification, strictly monitored their movements and denied requests to take time off, even when the women were sick or needed to care for children.
Some defendants allegedly threatened to release intimate photos if payments weren’t made on time. Others threatened violence against the women or their families.
In one April 2024 message cited in court documents, a defendant allegedly told another, “We are going to send someone to hurt someone in her family,” referring to a woman who didn’t want to keep working.
In another exchange, a victim who asked for time off due to illness was told, “I'm sorry for being the one to tell you babe but you can't be off a whole week. Because this doesn't work this way love.”
Prosecutors alleged Jamer Sepulveda Salazar, 23, and Jhonder Jose Bermudes Chirino, 24, arranged for women to travel to the United States and demanded they repay the debt through prostitution.
Robinson Romero Vergel, 34, allegedly financed the operation and laundered proceeds through shell companies. Marlene Castillo, 24, was accused of organizing prostitution encounters, while Manuel Cotiz Castro, 29, allegedly drove the women and collected payments.
Bermudes Chirino, Castillo and Cotiz Castro pleaded not guilty earlier this year. Romero Vergel also pleaded not guilty and was initially remanded before bail was set at $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond. Sepulveda Salazar’s plea status was not immediately available.
An attorney for Romero Vergel declined to comment. Attorneys for the other defendants did not respond to requests for comment.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the alleged traffickers “dehumanized women by luring them into our city, sexually exploiting them for profit, and controlling them with threats of violence.”
