U.S. Department of Justice
Gregory R. Miller
United States Attorney
Northern District of Florida

INDIVIDUALS CHARGED WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING OFFENSES

Tallahassee - Gregory R. Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced today the arrests of four defendants on charges of conspiring to recruit women from various countries in Central and South America and smuggle them into the United States and ultimately to Florida, for the purpose of prostitution. The eleven count indictment charges CARLOS ANDRES MONSALVE, a/k/a Toty, a/k/a Toti, JORGE ENRIQUE LONDONO, a/k/a Alvaro Pardo Prado, and LUZ KARIME RAMOS TERAN, a/k/a La Negra. The investigation is related to the previous prosecution of Jorge Wilmar Guarin Melchor.

The Indictment also charges MONSALVE with three counts of recruiting, harboring, transporting and providing persons knowing that force, fraud, and coercion would be used to cause them to engage in commercial sex acts, one count of harboring an alien for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, three counts of importing into the United States and holding an alien for the purpose of prostitution and employing and harboring an alien in a house for the purpose of prostitution. He is also charged in three counts of transporting an individual in interstate and foreign commerce with the intent that the individual engage in prostitution. If convicted, MONSALVE faces not less than 15 years and up to life imprisonment with up to $2.7 million in fines. The remaining defendants, who are only charged in the conspiracy count, face up to10 years of imprisonment and $250,000.00 in fines.

This investigation was conducted by the Clearwater Area Human Trafficking Task Force, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Tallahassee Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.