Human Trafficking: US - Four residents of Mexico charged in international sex trafficking ring

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

WASHINGTON—Arturo Rojas-Coyotl, Odilon Martinez-Rojas, and Severiano Martinez-Rojas, all of Tenancingo in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico, have been indicted on charges of sex trafficking and alien harboring, announced the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. A fourth man, Daniel Garcia-Tepal, also of Tlaxcala, Mexico, is charged with encouraging and inducing aliens to enter and reside in the United States unlawfully.

According to U.S. Attorney Yates, the charges, and other information presented in court: Rojas-Coyotl and his uncles Odilon Martinez-Rojas and Severiano Martinez-Rojas used force, fraud, and coercion to compel three women to engage in prostitution in Atlanta and Norcross, Georgia, at various times between 2006 and 2008. Daniel Garcia-Tepal and Arturo Rojas-Coyotl are also charged with encouraging and inducing a fourth woman to unlawfully enter and remain in the United States between 2010 and 2013.

Special Agents of the FBI and ICE Homeland Security Investigations arrested Arturuo Rojas-Coyotl, Odilon Martinez-Rojas, and Daniel Garcia-Tepal in a highly coordinated law enforcement sweep today. Severiano Martinez-Rojas remains a fugitive and is believed to be in Mexico. The FBI will coordinate with its legal attaché in Mexico City to affect his arrest and subsequent extradition back to the U.S. Four search warrants were also executed today in Atlanta and Norcross, Georgia, in conjunction with the arrests.

Rojas-Coyotl, 26; Martinez-Rojas, 41; Martinez-Rojas, 48; and Garcia-Tepal, 28, are scheduled for arraignment today. Each sex trafficking charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison while each alien harboring charge has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, with all counts carrying a fine of up to $250,000 each. In determining the actual sentence, the court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.

This case is being investigated by special agents of the FBI and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Interagency cooperation in international sex trafficking operations is imperative and vital to the success of the prosecution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Coppedge and Trial Attorney Benjamin Hawk of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit are prosecuting the case.

Anyone with information related to sex trafficking should call the Atlanta FBI hotline at 404-679-9000 or the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-3737-888.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only allegations. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.