Rivera placed ads and disseminated flyers seeking waitresses in Spanish language newspapers and at local businesses frequented by Spanish-speaking migrants. After the women agreed to work as waitresses, Rivera directed them to solicit patrons to buy them alcoholic beverages, which the women were required to consume. Eventually, Rivera forced them to engage in sexual acts with the patrons in exchange for money, which he kept.
Several witnesses reported that Rivera and others used violence, including sexual and physical abuse, as well as fraud and threats of deportation to compel the victims to continue to work for him and to prevent them from reporting these activities to police.
Another victim testified that on one occasion, she was transported by Villaman to a local hotel, where she was raped by a customer while unconscious, and awoke to find Villaman watching the assault. A third victim testified that Rivera raped her on multiple occasions and ordered a security guard to beat her. According to the victim, the security guard drove her to a deserted parking lot after work and viciously beat her. According to other testimony, Whaley, who assisted Rivera in hiring waitresses, managing the bars and transporting the waitresses to and from the two bars, sexually assaulted one of the victims whom he was supposed to drive home.
Testimony also revealed that Villaman acted as a security guard at one of the bars and assisted Rivera in illegal acts against victims, including dumping an unconscious victim on the street outside her home after he and Rivera had assaulted her. A jury convicted the defendants of several counts, including sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, forced labour, conspiracy to commit forced labor and transportation of illegal aliens.
_(cropped).jpg "Model Hooker in Rivera")
The decision analyzed in the present summary corresponds to the resolution of several appeal motions filed before the Court, prior to the Court sentencing the defendants upon their verdicts of guilty. The decision mentions at least 8 women those who testified as witnesses during the trial who were victimised by the defendants. All of the victims had an irregular immigration status. The Court held that such evidence was sufficient for a reasonable jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants' sex trafficking activities had an effect on interstate commerce.
