
JUDGE SENTENCES MAN TO 10 MONTHS FOR TRANSPORTING WOMAN FROM GEORGIA TO ALABAMA FOR PROSTITUTION
BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge today sentenced a Nicaraguan man to 10 months in prison for transporting a woman from Georgia to Alabama for prostitution, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Raymond R. Parmer Jr., U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent in charge, Office of Investigations, New Orleans.
U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon ordered DONALD CASTILBLANCO-HERNANDEZ, 27, also known as Otilio Orosco Treminio and as Manuel, to serve five years of supervised release after completing his prison term. CASTILBLANCO also must register as a sex offender.
“Making money off the exploitation and misery of another human being, whether for commercial sex acts or forced labor, is human trafficking and nothing more than modern day slavery,” Vance said. “Prosecuting this type case is how we begin to address the criminal enterprise of human trafficking, which, sadly, is growing in the United States. It is a top priority of the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to forge partnerships among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and victim service providers to identify, investigate and prosecute crimes of human trafficking and reduce the number of people who become enslaved by it,” she said.
“This case is a perfect example of the outstanding cooperation between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and state and local law enforcement agencies,” Parmer said. “Because of such positive interagency cooperation, human trafficking and smuggling criminals are discovering how difficult it is for them to hide their illegal activities from authorities. We are dedicated to identifying and dismantling these types of illicit operations wherever and whenever we find them,” Parmer said.
CASTILBLANO-HERNANDEZ pleaded guilty in June to one count of interstate transportation of an individual for prostitution. He admitted that he had traveled to Atlanta in January to pick up a woman and return her to Northport so that she could work for him as a prostitute.
According to CASTILBLANCO’s plea agreement, ICE agents entered a Northport residence with a search warrant on Jan. 15 and found the victim and a man who said he paid money to have sex with her. Agents soon after stopped CASTILBLANCO nearing the house, which he told them was where he resided.
ICE is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Fortune prosecuted it.