Tampa, FL – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the results achieved to date by the Middle District of Florida to combat human trafficking. This includes trafficking in minors, forced labor and sex trafficking of adults by force, fraud or coercion. During fiscal year 2022, the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida prosecuted 11 human trafficking defendants and has obtained $120,861.98 in restitution to survivors. The defendants include perpetrators directly involved in human trafficking to include recruiters, enforcers, facilitators, buyers/customers, advertisers and individuals who benefit financially from the exploitation. (See chart below for details on criminal cases.)
“The fight against human trafficking, a crime that harms some of the most vulnerable members of our society, is one of the highest priorities of the Middle District of Florida,” said U.S. Attorney Handberg. “We are committed to vindicating the rights of victims of human trafficking crimes by bringing their traffickers to justice and working to ensure survivors have access to restitution, services and assistance needed to rebuild their lives.”
Combating human trafficking is also a key priority for the Ministry of Justice. Earlier this year, the Attorney General published the Ministry of Justice’s national strategy to combat human trafficking. The strategy sets out the department’s multi-year plan to combat all forms of human trafficking; with a focus on efforts to protect victims of human trafficking, prosecute human trafficking cases and prevent further human trafficking. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
Representative cases prosecuted by the Middle District of Florida this year include:
United States v. Henry Lee White, III – Henry Lee White, III (27) pleaded guilty and was sentenced to over 24 years in prison for sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion; transportation of a person in interstate commerce for the purpose of prostitution; coercion and inducements; and being a felon in possession of ammunition. White was also ordered to pay $87,121.98 in restitution for his crimes. According to court documents, between June 2, 2020 and January 7, 2021, White used force, threats of force, fraud and coercion to induce the victim to engage in commercial sex. During that time, White trafficked the victim in the Middle District of Florida and transported the victim from Florida to Georgia so the victim could engage in prostitution. The victim was recovered during a Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force operation in January 2021.
United States v. Jamel Muldrew – Jamel Muldrew (33) pleaded guilty and was sentenced to over 21 years in prison for sex trafficking with a minor, coercing and enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity by using an interstate trafficking facility in support of extortion, and transporting a person interstate for prostitution. Muldrew was also ordered to pay $27,740.00 in restitution for his crimes. According to court documents, an undercover officer arranged to participate in a commercial sex act with a minor victim at a local hotel. Muldrew drove the minor victim to the hotel, dropped her off and drove to a nearby mall parking lot to wait. Law enforcement officers arrested Muldrew in the mall parking lot and searched him, finding several fictitious identification documents for both himself and the minor victim. Subsequent investigations revealed that between February and April 2021, Muldrew had trafficked the minor victim across the country to engage in prostitution, including in Texas, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, and ultimately Florida, where he was arrested. The minor victim was recovered during a Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force operation in April 2021.
United States v. Bladimir Moreno et al. – Bladimir Moreno (55) pleaded guilty to conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and conspiracy to commit forced labor and is awaiting sentencing. Under his plea agreement, Moreno has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $173,125.44 to his victims. A federal grand jury had previously returned a six-count indictment against Moreno and others for their roles in a federal sabotage conspiracy that victimized Mexican H-2A workers who harvested fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products in the United States. According to court documents, Moreno owned, operated and managed Los Villatoros Harvesting (LVH), an agricultural contracting company that operated as a criminal enterprise that forced victims to work in Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina. After charging Mexican farmworkers exorbitant amounts of money to enter the United States on short-term H-2A agricultural visas to work for LVH, Moreno and his co-conspirators forced over a dozen workers to provide long hours of physically demanding farm labor, six to seven days a week a week for very little pay. Moreno and his co-conspirators used various means of coercion, including imposing debt on workers; confiscation of workers’ passports; subjecting workers to overcrowded, unsanitary and degrading living conditions; verbal abuse and humiliation of the workers; threatens workers with arrest, imprisonment and deportation; isolating workers by preventing them from interacting with non-LVH employees; and threatening to physically harm the workers’ family members back in Mexico if the workers did not comply with their demands. Moreno and his co-conspirators also harbored H-2A workers in the United States after their visas expired, committed visa fraud and foreign labor contract fraud. Three co-defendants also pleaded guilty to related offences. Christina Gamez (43), American citizen , who worked for LVH as a bookkeeper, manager and supervisor, pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy and agreed to pay $9,353.91 in restitution. Efrain Cabrera Rodas (32), a citizen of Mexico who worked for LVH as a recruiter, manager and supervisor, also pleaded guilty to RICO conspiracy and agreed to pay $24,732.20 in restitution. Guadalupe Mendes Mendoza, 45, a citizen of Mexico who worked for LVH as a manager and supervisor, pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation.
Some of the prosecutions described above were investigated by the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force, a collaboration of local, state and federal law enforcement agents that work with organizations to detect, investigate and prosecute human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area. Through this multi-agency partnership, task force members work together to identify victims, investigate and prosecute these crimes, and support survivors by referring them to victim-centered, trauma-informed services. More information about the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force can be found at www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/humantrafficking.
In addition to aggressively pursuing traffickers and trafficking clients, USAO-MDFL is also committed to providing education, prevention, and technical assistance and training. Most recently, in June 2022, USAO-MDFL led a presentation during the Circuit 5 Human Trafficking Symposium. Participants were trained in how to identify signs of human trafficking as well as tactics used by traffickers. Participants included approximately 278 law enforcement officials, prosecutors, juvenile justice and health professionals, and faith-based groups, located in Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter counties.
The cases identified in the chart below have been investigated by the following agencies: Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, St. Petersburg Police Department, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Tampa Police Department, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Houston (Texas) Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Colorado Legal Services Migrant Farm Worker Division, Legal Aid Services of Oregon Farmworker Program, Indiana Legal Services Worker Rights and Protection Project and Selah Frihed.
Anyone with information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information on human trafficking, visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
An indictment is merely a formal accusation that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Allegations of Human Trafficking in FY 2022
Mateus Fernandes Evangelista Da Silva (22) *
Attempted child sex trafficking; and
Production of child pornography; and
These human trafficking cases in the Tampa Division are being prosecuted by AUSAs Lisa M. Thelwell and Ilyssa Spergel.
Nicholas Christopher Carwise (31)
Attempted child sex trafficking; and
This Jacksonville Division human trafficking case is being prosecuted by AUSA Ashley Washington.
Conspiracy to Commit Child Sex Trafficking
Conspiracy to commit forced labor;
Conspiracy to obstruct federal investigation
These human trafficking cases in the Tampa Division are being prosecuted by AUSAs Erin C. Favorit and Ilyssa Spergel and trial attorneys Avner Shapiro, Maryam Zhuravitsky and Matthew Thiman of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Attempted child sex trafficking;
Production, receipt and possession of child pornography
This human trafficking case in the Jacksonville Division is being prosecuted by AUSA Kelly S. Karase.
Sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion;
Felon in possession of ammunition
24 years, 4 months in federal prison
21 years, 10 months in federal prison
These Tampa Division human trafficking cases were prosecuted by AUSAs Lisa M. Thelwell, Erin C. Favorit, Ilyssa Spergel and Carlton C. Gammons.
* This case was investigated and prosecuted in cooperation with the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force in the Middle District of Florida, which is one of 13 task forces in the country that receives grants from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Task Force is a collaboration of local, state and federal law enforcement agents working with public and private organizations to detect, investigate and prosecute human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area. This includes trafficking in minors, forced labour, transnational sex trafficking and adult sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. More information about the Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Task Force can be found at www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/humantrafficking. Information on the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.
