Leonardo Jimenez-Rodriguez was extradited to the United States yesterday and will be arraigned today before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. is scheduled to be brought to court. sex trafficking, interstate prostitution, foreign smuggling, and related crimes. The accused was arrested in Mexico in May 2022 as a result of a joint investigation by National Security Investigations (HSI) Mexico City, New York HSI and the Mexican Federal Police.
The defendant is charged in a superseded indictment along with his brother and his accomplice, Marcos Jimenez-Rodriguez, who was previously arrested in the United States. The defendant’s sister, Melissa Jimenez-Rodriguez, was also previously arrested in the United States and is awaiting sentencing on charges of distributing the proceeds of a prostitution business.
The extradition and charges were announced by Breon Pace, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent in Charge of HSI New York.
“As alleged, using false promises of love and support, the defendant and his siblings brutally trafficked sex between Mexico and the United States for more than two decades,” the U.S. Attorney said. United States Attorney Pes. “Stopping human trafficking and ensuring that traffickers are brought to justice for their crimes against their victims remain top priorities for this office and our law enforcement partners.”
Mr. Peace commended HSI New York’s Human Trafficking Unit for leading the investigation into the Jimenez-Rodriguez sex-trafficking organization; HSI to the Office of the Attaché in Mexico City, the Office of International Relations of the Department of Justice, the Department of State, Interpol, the Office of International Affairs of the Office of the Attorney General of Mexico, the Law Enforcement Division of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Tlaxcala, Interpol Mexico City, and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for help; and commended the Government of Mexico for its role in advancing bilateral efforts to combat human trafficking. Mr. Tinchlik also thanked non-governmental service providers and advocates for their efforts to restore and improve the lives of trafficking survivors and their families.
“Yesterday’s extradition is the result of years of extraordinary cooperation between law enforcement agencies spanning multiple countries and investigative jurisdictions. Leonardo Jiménez-RodrÃguez was part of his family’s transnational human trafficking organization, which offered young women and girls a chance at a better life before being sexually abused without a chance to return home. reached,” said HSI Special. Arvelo, the agent in charge. “HSI would like to thank our colleagues at HSI’s Mexico City attaché office and our many partners in the United States and the Mexican government, whose cooperation and teamwork make these investigations possible.”
From 1997 to May 2018, Leonardo Jimenez-RodrÃguez was a member of a family organization based in New York and Tenancingo, Mexico, that used force, fraud and coercion to force young women on young women in Mexico. Prostitution in the United States (“Jimenez-Rodriguez Trafficking Organization”). Leonardo Jimenez-Rodriguez, along with other relatives, lured victims into romantic relationships through false promises of love and support, and pressured victims to travel to the United States with promises of a better life. After Leonardo Jimenez-Rodriguez and other members of the Jimenez-Rodriguez Trafficking Organization smuggled young women from Mexico into the United States, they subjected the women to brutal physical beatings, intimidation, psychological abuse, and coercion or threats of coercion. Prostitutes in New York City and elsewhere. The defendant is also accused of distributing illegal proceeds from a sex trade and prostitution enterprise.
The charges in the indictment are an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. If convicted of the sex trafficking charges, the defendant faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison.
Investigations, prosecutions, bilateral enforcement actions, and extradition of defendants arrested in Mexico are coordinated through the US-Mexico Bilateral Anti-Trafficking Initiative. Since 2009, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have worked with Mexican law enforcement agencies to more effectively disrupt human trafficking networks operating along the US-Mexico border, hold traffickers accountable, and restore rights and dignity in Human Rights. is cooperating within the framework of the Bilateral Initiative to combat trafficking. reuniting victims of human trafficking with their children. These efforts have led to successful prosecutions in both Mexico and the United States, including US federal prosecutions of more than 175 defendants in multiple cases in Georgia, New York, Florida, and Texas. as well as numerous Mexican federal and state prosecutions of sex traffickers. The extradition in the case is also the latest development in a sweeping anti-trafficking program in the Eastern District of New York, which to date has charged more than 100 sex-trafficking defendants; Helped nearly 200 victims, including more than 50 minors, reunited 19 victims’ children with their mothers, and ordered more than $4 million in restitution on behalf of trafficking victims.
The office’s Civil Rights Division handles government work. Assistant United States Attorneys Erin M. Reid, Gillian Kassner, Tara B. McGrath and Lauren Bowman, assisted by Paralegal Ryan Costley, are in charge of the prosecution.
A new defendant:
LEONARDO JIMENEZ-RODRIGUEZ
Age: 39
Mexico
The accused was previously arrested:
MARCOS JIMENEZ-RODRIGUEZ
Age: 46
Queens, New York
MELISSA JIMENEZ-RODRIGUEZ
Age: 41
Queens, New York
EDNY Docket No. 21-CR-11 (S-1) (EC)
