New Jersey Man Receives 10 Years for Sex Trafficking

RALEIGH, N.C. – An Elmwood Park, New Jersey man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for sex trafficking. Mark Daniel Benavidez was also ordered to pay $32,800 in restitution to his victims. On March 8, 2021 Benavidez pleaded guilty to one count of transporting a victim across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Benavidez, 40, was arrested in connection with an undercover prostitution sting at a hotel in Cary, North Carolina on July 21, 2017. Benavidez had rented two rooms at the hotel and was posting online prostitution ads for three different women. Benavidez had over $4,600 on his person at the time of arrest and drugs were found on one of the victims and in a bag in one of the rooms.

Investigation revealed that Benavidez began prostituting one of the victims in 2016 in New Jersey. While still in New Jersey, Benavidez recruited a second woman. Benavidez prostituted both women in New Jersey before traveling to North Carolina in early July 2017. Once in North Carolina, Benavidez recruited his third victim. Benavidez was physically violent with one of the victims, reportedly abusing her on a weekly basis. Benavidez exploited the drug addictions of the other two victims, becoming their sole supplier, worsening their addictions, and using the promise of drugs, especially heroin, to keep them prostituting for him. Benavidez controlled all aspects of their prostitution and took all the money the victims earned. The investigation also led to storage units that Benavidez rented in North Carolina and New Jersey, where investigators seized over $13,500 and $21,000, respectively.

“It is difficult to calculate the scope of damage caused by sexual exploitation and trafficking, which often leave victims with long-lasting trauma. Benavidez used fear, coercion, and violence to exploit and abuse his victims,” said Special Agent in Charge Ronnie Martinez, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) operations in North Carolina and South Carolina. “HSI special agents, along with our law enforcement partners, are committed to pursuing those who perpetuate these horrendous crimes.”

G. Norman Acker, III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt.  The Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) and the Cary Police Department investigated the case, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Blondel and Assistant United States Attorney Bryan Stephany  prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:19-CR-00337-BR.