June 12, 2008
For more information contact:
Supervisory AUSA Karen Rhew
(850) 942-8430
FOUR MEMBERS OF ALIEN SMUGGLING AND PROSTITUTION RING SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON
Tallahassee, Florida - Gregory R. Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced that Jorge Londono, Fabio Perez Gomez, Jean Manuel Barada Rivera, and Luz Karime Ramos Teran were sentenced to prison on June 11, 2008, by Chief United States District Judge Robert L. Hinkle, for conspiracy to violate federal law. Each of the defendants had pled guilty to one count of a conspiracy whose objects included the transportation and harboring of aliens for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, the importation of women into the United States for the purpose of prostitution, and the employment and harboring of women in a house for the purpose of prostitution.
Jorge Londono, 28, was sentenced to 36 months of imprisonment. Fabio Perez Gomez, 40, received a sentence of 27 months’ imprisonment. Jean Manuel Barada Rivera, 26, was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment and Luz Karime Ramos Teran, 26, received a sentence of 21 months in prison. All but Barada Rivera will be subject to deportation after serving their sentences.
The defendants were part of a conspiracy that recruited women from various countries in Central and South America and smuggled them into the United States and ultimately to Florida, for the purpose of prostitution. These defendants were part of the same conspiracy with Jorge Wilmar Guarin Melchor, who was found guilty by a federal jury on similar charges in Tallahassee in May 2007.
This case was a joint investigation conducted by the Clearwater Human Trafficking Task Force, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Tallahassee Police Department, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney Corey Smith prosecuted the case.