A Cuban illegal alien pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to labor trafficking charges tied to a scheme that forced three women to work in strip clubs across multiple states to repay smuggling debts.
Yoirlan Tome-Rojas, 46, admitted to financing the travel of three adult women from Cuba into the United States and then compelling them to surrender their wages from work at strip clubs, according to court documents, the Department of Justice stated in a news release.
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons for the Western District of Texas announced the plea.
Prosecutors said Tome-Rojas paid for the women’s flights, drivers, hotels, and the smugglers, known as “coyotes,” who moved them across the U.S.-Mexico border. He then assigned each woman a “travel debt” of up to $50,000.
The women were required to work seven days a week at strip clubs in San Antonio, Indiana, and Detroit, Michigan, according to court filings. Tome-Rojas took all of their earnings and prohibited them from leaving or stopping work until the debts were paid in full.
Prosecutors said he repeatedly inflated the balances by tacking on charges for food, clothing, housing, and transportation. Two of the women remained under his control for roughly three months, and Tome-Rojas told them they had paid down only about $1,000 of what they owed during that period.
The women feared for their own safety and for the safety of relatives still in Cuba, prosecutors said.
Tome-Rojas pleaded guilty to three counts of labor trafficking. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000. A federal district court judge will set the final sentence after weighing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing date has not been announced.
ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the San Antonio Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alicia McNab and Karina O’Daniel are handling the prosecution.
The prosecution falls under Operation Take Back America, a Department of Justice initiative focused on countering illegal immigration, dismantling cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and addressing violent crime.
