Federal Bureau of Investigation

“ What would happen is, the perpetrators have family members in Guatemala who would go to these poor small towns where they had young daughters and ask the families whether their daughters would be interested in coming to work for their family in Los Angeles, and they indicated that their family, their daughters in L.A. had jewelry stores and restaurants where the girls could work and they would make a very good living and would be able to send that money home. ”

“ Probably the biggest threat that was regularly made to all of the girls was if they thought about escaping, that the family would retaliate against the victim’s own families in Guatemala because they had been recruited in their homes in Guatemala . So that was the primary threat that kept many of the victims working for this family for a long period of time was the fear that their own families would be murdered in Guatemala. ”

“ They were all convicted of conspiracy and sex trafficking. The harshest sentence was 40 years for the leader of the family and another defendant got 35 years and the three remaining defendants who went to trial got 30 years.”
Mr. Schiff: The FBI and other federal agencies are very concerned with these kinds of activities. Don’t be afraid to call your local police department or nearest FBI office if you think there are illegal and criminal activities, such as human trafficking, going on near where you live or work. ”