The registered sex offender and his sister who investigators accused along with a third man of forcing illegal immigrants to work as prostitutes at two Suffolk County bars were held without bail at their initial hearing in federal court Aug. 10.
Antonio Rivera, 34—who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1998—and his sister, Jasmin Rivera, 31, owned Sonidos de la Frontera in Lake Ronkonkoma and La Hija del Mariachi in Farmingville, which were managed by John Whaley, 29, authorities said. They lured young Central American immigrant women—some as young as 17—with the promise of jobs as waitresses and hostesses, then forced them to have sex for money with patrons, according to federal prosecutors.
Antonio Rivera
If the women refused, authorities said they were assaulted and sometimes raped. They were also threatened with being reported to immigration authorities and their movements controlled, said authorities, between the bars and other locations in Hempstead, Huntington and Brentwood by being driven around in vehicles registered to the Riveras and Whaley. The number of women involved was not immediately available.
Each was charged with conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor and alien harboring after search warrants were executed at both bars, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. They were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael L. Orenstein and represented by federal public defenders.
The alleged conspiracy, which is said to have started in September 2007, was uncovered through a joint investigation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service and Suffolk police. The initial tip came from a confidential informant, who told a Suffolk police detective about the alleged prostitution ring in August 2008.
One of the girls was first interviewed by investigators in January 2009, and told them that she was threatened with death if she didn’t at least dance nude in the bar, according to court documents. Rivera allegedly raped her on numerous occasions.
“Sex trafficking preys upon vulnerable young women for profit and degrades both the individual victims and the communities where these crimes are committed,” said Benton Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Officials added that the victims were recruited from their homelands.
“These defendants lured innocent young women into the United States with promises of legitimate jobs and the American dream, but once the victims arrived, their dreams turned into nightmares,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) John Morton.
“Forced labor is tantamount to enslavement,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Joseph Demarest. “The form of forced labor charged here made young women, some of them minors,
sex slaves. As inhuman as that was, if they resisted, they were allegedly subjected to even
worse. We are committed to protecting the vulnerable, whatever their status.”
If convicted, the trio face a sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine in connection with the sex trafficking charges, up to life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine in connection with the forced labor charges, and a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine on the alien harboring charges.
