Florida Civil Rights News

Accused Sex Trafficker Arraigned in Federal Court

Consuelo Carreto-Valencia, an accused sex trafficker extradited to the United States from Mexico in January, was arraigned today in federal court on a 27-count indictment charging her with multiple counts of sex trafficking and related crimes, the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security announced.

Carreto-Valencia was extradited to the United States on Jan. 20, 2007. She was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom in Brooklyn, N.Y. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Frederic Block.

Carreto-Valencia, her two sons, and three other defendants were indicted on Nov. 16, 2004, on charges of conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, violations of the Mann Act, and immigration-related offenses. Together with her sons, Josue Flores Carreto and Gerardo Flores Carreto, and other family members, Carreto-Valencia operated a network based in San Miguel Tenancingo, Tlaxcala, Mexico that trafficked young women into forced prostitution in Mexico and New York City.

According to the indictment, male members of the Carreto family lured young, uneducated women and girls from impoverished areas of Mexico into romantic relationships and later, through a combination of deception, coercion, threats, and sexual and physical violence, forced the young women to work as prostitutes in Mexico and New York City. As part of this operation, Carreto-Valencia confined some of the women at her home in San Miguel Tenancingo, Mexico. She also collected the proceeds and profits received from the sex trafficking business in Mexico and in the United States. Read more at doj.gov.

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	A target number of qualified women, minorities or persons with disabilities hired and advanced within a given period of time through an Affirmative Employment Program.