Overview
- Yoirlan Tome-Rojas pleaded guilty on Wednesday to three federal counts of labor trafficking after admitting he financed flights, drivers, hotels and smugglers to bring three adult women from Cuba into the United States.
- Prosecutors say Tome-Rojas imposed a "travel debt" of up to $50,000 per woman and forced them to work seven days a week in strip clubs in San Antonio, Indiana and Detroit while he took their earnings.
- Court papers say Tome-Rojas inflated debts by charging for food, clothing, shelter and transport and barred the women from leaving or stopping work until the debts were paid.
- The victims reported fearing for their lives after alleged threats to shoot them, and two women were held about three months while paying roughly $1,000 toward their debts, according to prosecutors.
- The case, investigated by ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the San Antonio Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alicia McNab and Karina O’Daniel, is part of the DOJ's Operation Take Back America and carries potential prison terms of up to 20 years and fines up to $250,000 per count with a judge to set the final sentence.