AP Photo/The Metropolitan Corrections Center
Forced prostitution charges have been brought against the owners and manager of two bars in Suffolk County, New York. Antonio Rivera, Jasmin Rivera, and John Whaley were arrested on August 10, 2009, on charges of conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, and alien harboring in Long Island.
The charges were the result of a joint investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Suffolk County Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the IRS. According to the complaint, Antonio Rivera (a registered sex offender) and his sister Jasmin Rivera owned and operated the Sonidos de law Frontera bar in Lake Ronkonkoma and the La Hija del Mariachi bar in Farmingville. John Whaley was the manager of both bars.
The three defendants are accused of luring young illegal immigrant women from Central America to work in the bars with offers of jobs as waitresses and hostesses. After they began working in the bars, they were forced to have sex with customers for money with the defendants keeping half of what they were paid. Those women who resisted or refused to participate were subject to rape and assault by the defendants, and were threatened with being reported to immigration authorities. The defendants were also charged with conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens based on their concealing the women's true identities and immigration status from licensing agencies and law enforcement.
“Sex trafficking preys upon vulnerable young women for profit and degrades both the individual victims and the communities where these crimes are committed,” said United States Attorney Benton J. Campbell.
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., stated, “Forced labor is tantamount to enslavement. The form of forced labor charged here made young women, some of them minors, sex slaves. As inhuman as that was, if they resisted, they were allegedly subjected to even worse. We are committed to protecting the vulnerable, whatever their status.”
If convicted, the defendants face sentences of 15 years to life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine in the sex trafficking charges, up to life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine in the forced labor charges, and a maximum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine on the alien harboring charges.
Comments
i work there i was the bartender and its all lies i can get other people that worked there to testify and custumers too
Dont lie to us we all no this place was a whore spot were the girls had to have sex for the owners dont stick up for them you and i both no whats really good its to late girl tony and jasmin is done poor girls why they just did not have YOU work for SEX to make money for them. you have no careing inside you for them girls tony is just sick in the head you no is true you no he goes out in his hummer to go pick them girls up at there house even when they did not want to go and tony would tell them lets go or ill beat the sh*t out of you tony is a big as nigga scary too they had no choice. i no to much right because i no him i no what tony is about he tryed to hit on me when i was 12 and you dont no how good i feel inside me to no his a5s is locked up thank god keep him in there
this is a big scandal...i can tell they are purposefully targeting immigrants...i believe the reason is what many residents don't like the bars in the area because all the immigrants coming in and out are driving down the value of their homes....i work at sonidos and thats all bullcrap the only reason why i wasnt taken into detention is because i am an american citizen and they know that i know my rights.and i also heard that they are enticing these women to lie by offering them working visas or expedited citizenship because they were victums of "forced prostitution". it makes me mad how the government spends its money on un-necessary crap like this when they should spend it on health care. there is no proof of prostitution if they want they can check all the cameras and everything. they have no case against them except that they hired immigrants. and what makes me so mad about this is that they had to raid the bar on payday! those douche bags!
I WORKED THERE THIS IS TOTALLY UNTRUE!!!!! I WISH I COULD SAVE THESE INNOCENT PEOPLE. THEY HAVE ALOT OF PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE THIS PLACE SHUT DOWN ESPECIALLY THE NEIGHBORS!!!
HAHAHAH!! U GUYS ARE IDIOTS!! THIS AHPPENS EVERYWHERE AROUND THE WORLD AND IS VERY UNSCENE TO THE NAKED EYE. HOW ABOUT U DO SOME RESEARCH ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING. THEN U WILL REALIZE IT HAPPENS BENEATH ALL OF OUR EYES. SAD REALLY. ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATE IN THIS UNBELIEVABLE ACT SHOULD BURN IN HELL.
WOW DONT EVIN GO THERE I BEEN IN THAT PLACE I NO TONY AND HIS SISTER I NO THE FAMILY. WHEN I WENT THERE TO SEE WHAT IT WAS ABOUT I SEEN PEOPLE HAVING SEX IN THERE RIGHT THERE BY THE BAR SO DONT EVIN GO THERE TONY IS JUST SO NASTY AND WHEN I TOLD HIS SISTER WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THE BACK WITH THE PEOPLE THAT WERE HAVING SEX SHE SAID SHE NO THATS HER MONEY THEY WORK FOR HER I ALSO HAD A NASTY FAMILY MEMBER NAME VIVIANA RIVERA WHO WORKED THERE AND SHE SAID THAT IS TRUE THE GIRLS WAS WORKING FOR THE 2 OF THEM TONY AND HIS SISTER AND IF THEY DIDINT THEY WOULD BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THEM GIRLS THANK GOD THEY SHUT THAT PLACE DOWN DONT STICK UP FOR THEM NASTY PEOPLE BECAUSE YOUR JUST AS NASTY AS THEY ARE YOU THINK JASMIN REALLY CARES ABOUT HER KIDS COME ON SHE WAS HURTING KIDS HERSELF THEY NEED TO ROTT IN JAIL. ALL THAT MONEY THEY WERE GETTING WENT DOWN THE DRAIN LOL I AM SO SO HAPPY THEY IN THERE THANK GOD THEY DID SOMETHING ABOUT THYS PIGS TONY WOW YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD IT GOOD YOU NASTY MOFO RAPING LITTLE KIDS YES YOUR IN THE RIGHT SPOT NOW TO BAD THEY DIDINT GET YOUR BROTHER D WHEN HE WAS WORKING THERE ONE THING THAT GOT ME WAS BECAUSE WHEN I WENT THERE THEY DID NOT ASK ME FOR ID WHEN I WENT WITH MY 3 FRIENDS I JUST KNEW SOMETHING WAS UP TILL I WOLKED IN THAT NASTY SMELLY PLASCE SMFH AT ALL YOU PEOPLE...
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