On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced the sentences of two men convicted of sex trafficking-related offenses regarding the sale and purchase of a 19-year-old “sex slave” in Texas.
“After repeatedly selling the victim for commercial sex, Mr. Juarez advertised her as a ‘slave’ on a fetishism website, where he offered to sell her to the highest bidder,” according to a previous DOJ statement.
“Mr. Hubert, screen name ‘The Darkest Lord,’ offered $5,000.”
The entire news release reads:
Two human traffickers have been sentenced to a combined 25 years in federal prison, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham.
Alfonso Orozco Juarez, 37, and Robert Hubert, 68, were first charged in October 2020. Mr. Hubert pleaded guilty in February 2022 to kidnapping and was sentenced in May 2022 to 121 months in federal prison; Mr. Juarez pleaded guilty in March 2022 to sex trafficking and was sentenced last week to 180 months in federal prison.
“Treated like chattel, the victim in this case endured horrors beyond imagining,” said U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham. “The North Texas Trafficking Task Force was launched to investigate and prosecute cases just like this one. We hope the sentences announced today will bring some peace to the victim as she recovers from her ordeal.”
“The physical and mental abuse suffered by the victim in this devasting sex-trafficking crime is heart-breaking. These perpetrators treated their victim as if she were personal property and not human,” said Special Agent in Charge Lester Hayes Jr., Homeland Investigations Dallas. “The HSI Dallas-led North Texas Trafficking Task Force will work relentlessly to eliminate these commercial sex-trafficking schemes. Fortunately, the defendants’ 25-year combined prison sentences will not allow them to target anyone else.”
According to plea papers, Mr. Juarez admitted that on Sept. 11, 2019, he authored a social media post advertising a sex “slave” who he claimed he had won in a card game. Mr. Hubert admitted that he responded to the post, offering to buy the “slave” for $5,000. In messages, Mr. Juarez referred to the victim as “property” and bragged that he “pistol whip[ped] her.”
Were these sentences adequate?
On Sept. 18, 2019, the pair met at a gas station in Dallas, where Mr. Juarez handed over the victim in exchange for $5,000. On the drive back to his home, Mr. Hubert admitted, he clamped a metal collar around her neck.
Terrified, the victim texted Mr. Juarez, pleading for help:
“I’m afraid if I don’t do something, he’s going to hurt me,” she said.
“Endure what you have to,” he responded. “He’ll punish you whip you . . . but not kill you.”
Once they reached his home, Mr. Hubert admitted, he handcuffed her and forced her to sleep naked at the foot of his bed. The victim eventually persuaded him to allow her to call her parents, who agreed to his demand of $5,000 for safe return. Eventually, the victim was able to escape the home.
Homeland Security Investigations and the North Texas Trafficking Task Force conducted the investigation with substantial support from the Crime Strategies Unit with the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque, NM. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Briggs and Rebekah Ricketts (fmr.) of the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Letitia Simms of the District of New Mexico.
Victims of human trafficking or those who have information regarding trafficking are encouraged to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline online or call 888-373-7888.
Find other resources to report crime here, or call 911 in case of emergency.
