|
|
| |
| |
Criminal Records - Most Wanted |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Profile |
|
| |
Name: Patricio Sosa
|
|
| |
Race: Hispanic |
|
| |
Other Physical Characteristics: Agents say he may suffer from diabetes and is wheelchair-bound. He may have gained some weight and it's believed that he is a partial amputee. |
|
| |
Wanted for :
Harboring Aliens For Prostitution, Avon Park, FL
Involuntary Servitude, Florida
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Location(s) |
|
| |
Last Seen : Florida |
|
| |
Possible Location : Mexico
Florida |
|
| |
Last Known : Mexico |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Traits |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Case Story |
|
| |
Alleged Human Trafficking Ringleader On The Run |
|
| |
Human trafficking is one of the most awful crimes imaginable, a modern-day kind of slavery where unsuspecting people are treated like commodities and coerced into being migrant workers or prostitutes.
The goverment reports that as many as 2 million people a year are smuggled around the world by human traffickers, with 50,000 of those victims brought into the U.S. According to the FBI, one of the most high-profile human trafficking operations around was run by the Cadena-Sosa family.
Agents say that Patricio Sosa was one of the ringleaders behind a scheme that also involved his sister and his nephews.
The Family Business
Before embarking on their alleged criminal enterprise, the Cadena-Sosa's established their roots in the same small Mexican towns where they would target many of their future victims. The family later moved back and forth across the U.S. border and was perceived by their former neighbors to be wealthy and successful.
The FBI says that Patricio Sosa and his family sent recruiters to Mexico to lure local girls and young women with promises of wealth and a better life. According to agents, these unsuspecting victims were led to believe that the Cadena-Sosa's needed waitresses for their Florida restaurants or nannies to care for their children.
The girls were told that they would be treated like family -- instead, the FBI says they were used like slaves, and forced to pay for the privilege.
Initially, the girls were told they owe would $2000 for being smuggled into the U.S, an amount which they would have to work off once they arrived. But they were told that they would be earning in excess of $400 a week, ten times what they were making in Mexico. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
The "Better" Life Is A Lie |
|
| |
When the young women arrived in Texas, agents say they were picked up in a van driven by members of the Cadena-Sosa family, who would ask them for their measurements and buy them lingerie. Then the unsuspecting immigrants were taken to trailer homes and ramshackle houses that served as brothels, where they were essentially kept prisoner and forced into prostitution.
These once-innocent victims worked six days a week and were forced to have sex with as many as 30 men a day. Each customer paid $20, but little of this cash ever found its way to the girls. They were told that part of their wages was being put toward the money they owed for coming to the U.S., and yet their debts never seemed to get any smaller.
But that was only part of the horror of life in the brothels. Agents say the Cadena-Sosa's would sometimes rape and beat these young women to help break their spirits. At times, the guards who were supposedly keeping order also forced themselves on the girls, according to the FBI -- and if a woman became pregnant, she was forced to have an abortion and put back to work immediately.
To keep their charges in line, the Cadena-Sosa's allegedly made threats against them -- and against their families back home. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
The FBI Catches Up To The Cadena-Sosa's |
|
| |
In the fall of 1997, a series of FBI raids helped to break up the family's human trafficking and prostitution operation. Thanks to tips from some of the victims, agents closed down six brothels.
Several members of the Cadena-Sosa family have since been brought to justice, according to the FBI. One of the alleged ringleaders, Rogerio Cedena, was punished with a 15 year sentence.
But the FBI says several family members are still on the run, including Rafael Cadena-Sosa. Now agents want to bring him to justice for what they say are inhuman crimes. |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|