HOUSTON – Sex trafficking suspect Alfonso Diaz-Juarez remains a wanted man, and the Houston FBI wants your help to track him down.
Call 713-693-5000 if you have any information on his whereabouts. There's up to a $50,000 reward for information leading to the location and arrest of Diaz-Juarez.
Diaz-Jaurez associated with the 68-year-old woman behind a 14-defendant sex trafficking ring operating out of a night club in Houston, the FBI says. A federal jury convicted Hortencia Medeles-Arguello aka Raquel Medeles Garcia, Raquel Medeles Garcia or "Tencha." She has since been ordered to federal prison for life.
All of Tencha's co-defendants who were in custody have pleaded guilty for their respective roles in the conspiracy. Many admitted they worked for Las Palmas II, a cantina located in Houston.
"This landmark sex trafficking case is one of the most significant in scope and magnitude to be tried to a verdict of guilty on all counts, and one of the few in which as many as 12 victims of an international sex trafficking scheme came forward to testify at trial," stated the FBI in a press release.
"The importance of this case cannot be underscored," said U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. "These were human beings – women and children – who were treated as a commodity. They came from their home countries hoping for a better life, only to be enslaved and forced into unspeakable acts."
"They all knew the cantina concealed, harbored and shielded illegal aliens who worked there from detection by law enforcement and that the owners were profiting from such concealment. As part of their employment, they aided in the operation of the business and their conduct substantially facilitated the concealment, harboring and shielding of the employees and patrons of the Las Palmas II, whom they all knew were illegally in the U.S. Other co-defendants pleaded guilty to helping Tencha keep track of the monies she made, including investing it in properties she purchased in the Houston area," the FBI stated.
