Defendant is the Last Member of a Family-Run Sex Trafficking Ring to be Sentenced
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Hugo Hernandez-Velazquez was sentenced by United States District Judge William F. Kuntz to 188 months’ imprisonment for sex trafficking multiple victims by force, fraud, and coercion. The defendant was extradited from Mexico to the United States in February 2021. He pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking in April 2023. Hernandez-Velazquez will be deported to Mexico after completing his sentence.
Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Ricky J. Patel, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI New York), announced the sentence.
“For years, the defendant and his siblings operated an illegal, abusive, and exploitative sex trafficking operation that stripped victims of their dignity and subjected them to inhumane violence,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “It is my hope that the prosecution of their tormentors and the punishment meted out will provide a measure of closure for the brave survivors who assisted the investigation and will help them on their path to healing.”
“For nearly a decade, the defendant and his family oversaw a vicious sex trafficking campaign wrought with violence, manipulation, coercion, and outright force against women whom they lured into romantic relationships through false promises of love and support,” stated HSI Special Agent in Charge Patel. “Every day, victims are targeted for human trafficking and other vile forms of exploitation and abuse, often at the hands of their own spouses or purported caretakers. Today’s sentencing is no doubt a direct result of the bravery of each survivor who courageously spoke up. Together with our partners, HSI is unflinchingly committed to investigating and vigorously pursuing anyone, anywhere, who sexually exploits the very individuals they claim to care for.”
Mr. Nocella commended HSI New York’s Trafficking in Persons Unit for leading the investigation of the Hernandez-Velazquez Sex Trafficking Organization; thanked the HSI Mexico City Attaché Office, the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Department of State, Interpol, International Affairs Department of the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico, the Law Enforcement Unit of the State of Tlaxcala Attorney General’s Office, Interpol Mexico, and the New York City Police Department for their assistance; and praised the government of Mexico for its role in advancing bilateral anti-trafficking enforcement efforts. Mr. Nocella also acknowledged the non-governmental victim service providers and advocates for their dedicated efforts to restore and improve the lives of survivors of trafficking and their families.
Between approximately 2001 and 2009, the defendant and his siblings, Ernesto, Giovanni and Arcelia Hernandez-Velazquez, ran the Hernandez-Velazquez Sex Trafficking organization (the family organization) based in Mexico. The family organization used force, fraud, and coercion to cause young women in Mexico to engage in prostitution in the United States. Members of the family organization lured victims into romantic relationships through false promises of love and support. The victims were pressured to travel to the United States with promises of a better life with their trafficker. Once smuggled into the United States, the victims were forced to engage in prostitution. The family organization maintained a base in Queens, New York, where victims would reside while they were forced to work in New York and other states, including Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The defendant subjected his victims to physical beatings, forced abortions, and threats. The defendant also threatened violence to the victims’ families to force the victims to continue prostituting on his behalf.
Judge Kuntz previously sentenced Hernandez-Velazquez’s siblings who also pleaded guilty to sex trafficking: Ernesto Hernandez-Velazquez and Giovanni Hernandez-Velazquez were each sentenced to 210 months’ imprisonment; and Arcelia Hernandez-Velazquez, who pleaded guilty to a Mann Act Violation, was sentenced to time served after approximately 60 months in U.S. custody.
The investigation, prosecution, bilateral enforcement action, and extradition of the defendant from Mexico was coordinated through the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Human Trafficking Enforcement Initiative. Since 2009, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have collaborated with Mexican law enforcement counterparts in a Bilateral Human Trafficking Enforcement Initiative to dismantle human trafficking networks operating across the U.S.-Mexico border, bring human traffickers to justice, restore the rights and dignity of human trafficking victims, and reunite victims with their children. These efforts have resulted in successful prosecutions in both Mexico and the United States, including U.S. federal prosecutions of over 175 defendants in multiple cases in Georgia, New York, Florida, and Texas, in addition to numerous Mexican federal and state prosecutions of associated sex traffickers.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Human Trafficking and Civil Rights Section. Assistant United States Attorney Erin Reid is in charge of the prosecution.
The Defendant:
HUGO HERNANDEZ-VELAZQUEZ (also known as “Norberto Hernandez Velasquez” and “La Gallina”)
Age: 48
Mexico
Defendants Previously Sentenced:
ERNESTO HERNANDEZ-VELAZQUEZ (also known as “Chapas”)
Age: 45
Queens, New York
GIOVANNI HERNANDEZ-VELAZQUEZ
Age: 37
Mexico
ARCELIA HERNANDEZ-VELAZQUEZ (also known as “La Gordis”)
Age: 46
Queens, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 19-CR-306 (S-1) (WFK)