GUILTY NJ - Elsa Isuala Meza & others for sex trafficking, North Hudson, 2005

Ten people are facing charges in an alleged slavery ring that forced would-be waitresses to have sex with customers at bars in Union City and Guttenberg, N.J.

A federal indictment handed down in Newark alleges the suspects ran a slavery and prostitution network that ensnared girls as young as 14. The women told investigators they had been raped and later forced to take abortion-inducing pills, Newhouse News Service reported Friday.

One of the women said she gave birth last January, but the baby died after one of her captors tried to stuff the newborn down a toilet.http://pub2.bravenet.com/news/92920030/1242/4

A woman from Texas admitted in court yesterday she helped smuggle young women and girls from Honduras into this country, then forced them to work as prostitutes and dancers in bars in Union City and Guttenberg.

Elsa Consuelo Isuala-Meza, 44, of Houston - herself an illegal immigrant from Honduras - pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano to engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labor.

Federal sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term of 30 months to 37 months for the crime, but she could receive less if she cooperates against other suspects. She is being held without bail and is scheduled to be sentenced April 25.

Isuala-Meza is the fourth person to admit playing a role in the scheme, which forced women and girls - at least one as young as 14 - to dance and drink with men in the bars in order to pay off debts of $10,000 to $20,000. But she is the first to say some ring members forced the girls to prostitute themselves to pay off their debts.

Speaking yesterday through a court interpreter, Isuala-Meza said she ran a safe house in Texas, where the immigrant girls, after crossing the border, would stay until they were driven or given a bus ticket to New York or New Jersey.

She said she was wired $250 to $300 for each woman she picked up, to cover food, clothing and bus tickets. She said she made arrangements for more than 20 women and girls between May 2003 and December 2004.

Often she sent the women to live in North Hudson with two sisters who allegedly worked as enforcers, Elvira and Ana Luz Rosales.

She said she thought she was just doing "a favor" for the women, but in court yesterday she admitted she began to suspect something was wrong when she got a call asking if "Elvira's little *advertiser censored* had arrived yet."

She continued to participate in the ring, however.
http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1137838251280950.xml&coll=3

So, she enjoys exploitation as well as money. I believe she has the wrong idea about entrepreneurs.

July 2005:

The indictment charged that 10 people in two countries, led by Luisa Medrano of Cliffside Park, N.J., operated the ring to provide cheap labour for her three bars. The women were housed in apartment owned by Medrano, the indictment said.

"In essence, these woman were kept as slaves, forced to work for Ms. Medrano in her establishments," Christie said.

They often worked 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week, for which they were paid $240 US, although nearly all went to the smuggling ring, which charged $10,000 to $20,000 to bring them to the United States under the false promise of working as waitresses, according to court documents....

Medrano, 50, a native of El Salvador who is a U.S. citizen, and Rosalba Ortiz, 34, of Union City, N.J., accused of being one of the ring's enforcers, were arrested Wednesday night...

Three other accused enforcers, all of Union City, were already in custody: Noris Elvira Rosales Martinez, 29, Ana Luz Rosales Martinez, 37, and Jose Dimas Magana, 40.

Three people named as recruiters in the U.S. indictment have been in Honduran custody since June, where they are charged with alien smuggling

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1448134/posts

November 2005:

Xochil Nectalina Rosales Martinez, 29, admitted in U.S. District Court that she was instructed to keep the smuggled women in line, and to beat them if necessary. In return, Martinez said she and her husband, who were smuggled into the U.S. illegally, were given free rent and food at an apartment in Guttenberg from November 2004 to January 2005...

One of those women, who was identified in court only by the initials "L.D.N." became pregnant. Another alleged enforcer, Noris Elvira Rosales Martinez, forced L.D.N. to take pills to try to induce an abortion, but the baby was born alive into a toilet, Xochil Nectalina Rosales Martinez tearfully told the judge. The baby died soon afterward...

No one has been charged in the baby's death. Authorities said the leaders of the ring face potentially far more lengthy prison terms if convicted of the federal charges than they would if prosecuted for manslaughter under state law.

An indictment unsealed in July asserted that victims of the ring were forced to take abortion-inducing medication on more than one occasion to maintain their earning potential at the bar.

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http://m.mrt.com/import/article_e8637756-bdc5-534c-a3aa-c49c4152a1a2.html?mode=jqm

November 2005:

Xochil Nectalina Rosales Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to force the Honduran women to work at the bars in Union City to pay back smuggling fees of $10,000 to $20,000. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The 31-count Indictment issued in July described the rape and torture of young women while smuggled to the United States...

As part of the plea, Martinez revealed that one of the Honduran women had become pregnant and was ordered to take an abortion-inducing drug. She explained in grotesque detail how the young woman gave birth to a live baby girl the next day – into a toilet in one of the apartments where the smuggled women were forced to live. Following the birth, the co-conspirators planned how to dispose of the infant’s body and hide the woman’s birth, instead of getting needed medical attention. The baby was dead by the time an ambulance had brought her to a hospital.

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http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=56369

August 2006:

Noris Elvira Rosales Martinez, 29, Ana Luz Rosales Martinez, 37, and Jose Dimas Magana, 40, acknowledged their part in the organization during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton.

The three defendants, described by authorities as "enforcers" who meted out discipline and collected smuggling debts, were among 10 alleged ring members indicted a year ago. They pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor and harboring illegal aliens, prosecutors said.

Pisano set sentencing for Dec. 18. They face prison terms of up to 20 years on the forced labor count alone.

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http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1685075/posts

January 2008:

"I've been around criminal law a long time -- since 1974," U.S. Distirct Court Judge Joel A. Pisano said. "I don't know that I've seen a more brazen, outrageous and depraved course of conduct" as this case.

"The facts of this case are horrific," the judge added. "We have threats, physical abuse, psychological abuse, coercion, and we have death."

Pisano sentenced Noris Elvira Rosales-Martinez, 31, to six and a half years in prison, the maximum allowed under federal sentencing guidelines. Rosales-Martinez's older sister and fellow illegal immigrant Ana Luz Rosales-Martinez was also sentenced yesterday to the maxiumum 57 months behind bars for her role in the ring.

Noris Elvira's boyfriend, Jose Dimas Magana, 41, a legal immigrant from El Salvador, was sentenced to 51 months, also the maximum allowed under the guidelines.

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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/three_get_max_sentences_for_ro.html

Medrano, a naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from El Salvador in 1974, admitted that from October 2004 to January 2005 she harbored illegal Hondurans and employed them at her bars in Union City and Guttenberg. Ringleaders had forced them to work there to pay off smuggling debts that ranged up to $20,000, authorities said.

Luisa Medrano is the 10th defendant to plead guilty in connection with a smuggling ring that brought more than 20 young women and teenagers from small villages in Honduras with promises of employment as waitresses and then forced them to work at bars in Union City, New Jersey.

Under federal guidelines, Medrano faces from 24 to 30 months in federal prison when she was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton on December 26. As part of her plea agreement, Medrano agreed to make restitution for all the losses to her victims. She also agreed to forfeit the two homes in Guttenberg and Union City where the women were harbored. The two properties are valued in excess of $500,000. She also must pay about $250,000 in federal taxes, plus interest and penalties.

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https://www.unodc.org/cld/case-law-...metype/usa/2011/united_states_v._medrano.html

April 2008:

A federal jury found Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna and his wife Anna guilty of conspiracy to commit extortion and tax charges this morning, a conviction prosecutors said could put them behind bars for more than six years...
Luisa Medrano, a bar owner in the tiny Hudson County town, had testified that she showered the couple with more than $40,000 in gifts and cash campaign contributions to fend off town inspectors. The gifts, she said, included Macy's gift cards, cash to gamble in Atlantic city, cosmetic breast surgery for Anna, a cuddly Yorkshire Terrier named Toby and pet insurance for the dog...

Prosecutors had argued that Delle Donna and his wife pocketed the campaign contributions and accepted gifts from Medrano, the local bar owner, in exchange for favors including fixing code violation tickets. Medrano, the government's star witness, told the jury of a long list of gifts she gave to the Della Donnas to keep the Alcohol Beverage Control board, of which the mayor is a member, from closing her bar. She was also hoping to gain Planning Board approval for a proposal to build apartments on one of several properties she owns in the town. The Della Donnas' defense attorneys portrayed the couple as honest friends who were duped and used by Medrano, who showered them with unsolicited gifts and never asked for, and never received, any favors in return.

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http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/04/jurors_in_the_federal_corrupti.html

May 2009:

A case last year involving a sex slave scandal with underage illegal immigrants has come back to tarnish the record of former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who is now a Republican gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey.

Christie, who has based his campaign in part on his success as a federal prosecutor, worked a plea bargain with the operator of a Honduran sex-slave ring. The deal allowed the operator to avoid prison by paying over $500,000 in back taxes in exchange for her testimony to convict the Democratic mayor of a small town in New Jersey of corruption charges.

The crux of the scandal is that Christie used his prosecutorial discretion to look the other way on a major illegal immigrant sex-slave operation. The testimony helped convict Mayor David Della Donna of Guttenberg, N.J., and his wife, who at most had accepted $40,000 in gifts from the brothel madame, Luisa Medrano.

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Read more at http://mobile.wnd.com/2009/05/97267/#go307HDYcBHusk38.99

March 2014:

Medrano pleaded guilty. However, she got off with house arrest, apparently in exchange for testimony against small-time Democratic Guttenberg Mayor David Delle Donna (annual salary: $7,000 per year), who was convicted of accepting cash gifts from Medrano and items like a dog for his wife. The couple said she was a family friend. He ended up serving prison time.

Now, the Daily Beast asks a question that the Reporter looked at in its own 2009 article. The Daily Beast asks it this way: "Did Christie go easy on a human trafficker just to bust a small-time pol?"

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http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full...cking-issue--references--Reporter-s--coverage