A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation has led to the sentencing of Hugo Hernandez-Velazquez, a leader of a Mexican sex trafficking organization, to 188 months in prison. The sentence was handed down on July 10 following his extradition from Mexico to the United States in February 2021.
The announcement was made by ICE Homeland Security Investigations New York Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel and Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Hernandez-Velazquez, aged 48, pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking in April 2023. Upon completion of his sentence, he will be deported.
"For nearly a decade, the defendant and his family oversaw a vicious sex trafficking campaign wrought with violence, manipulation, coercion, and outright force against women whom they lured into romantic relationships through false promises of love and support," stated Patel. "Every day, victims are targeted for human trafficking and other vile forms of exploitation and abuse, often at the hands of their own spouses or purported caretakers."
Patel praised HSI New York’s Human Trafficking Task Force for leading the investigation and thanked various international and domestic agencies for their assistance. He also acknowledged non-governmental victim service providers for their efforts in supporting survivors.
Joseph Nocella remarked on the impact of the operation: "For years, the defendant and his siblings operated an illegal, abusive, and exploitative sex trafficking operation that stripped victims of their dignity and subjected them to inhumane violence."
Between approximately 2001 and 2009, Hernandez-Velazquez along with his siblings Ernesto, Giovanni, and Arcelia ran the organization which used force to compel young women from Mexico into prostitution across several U.S. states. The family maintained operations primarily out of Queens, New York.
A U.S. District Court judge had previously sentenced Hernandez-Velazquez’s siblings: Ernesto and Giovanni received 210 months each while Arcelia served around 60 months after pleading guilty to a Mann Act violation.
