The Associated Press
HOUSTON — A federal judge has assessed a prison sentence to the last of eight defendants who pleaded guilty in a sex-trafficking ring that smuggled in Mexican women to prostitute themselves at Houston-area bars and restaurants.
A statement from the U.S. attorney’s office says Javier Belmontes was sentenced Tuesday in Houston to four years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes also forfeited two bars, a restaurant and several properties he found were used by the ring. Prosecutors have asked that proceeds from the forfeitures be used to help the victims in the case.
Prosecutors say Mexican women and girls were lured to the United States with the promise of legitimate jobs in Houston’s bars and restaurants. Instead, they were forced into prostitution.