On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes ruled that five teen sex slaves will split the $602,000 in proceeds expected from the sale of dwellings, restaurants, vacant lots and cantinas belonging to Maria ‘Nancy’ Rojas and Javier Belamonte, operators of a sex slave trafficking organization on the east side of Houston.
The teens were brought to Houston from Mexico and forced to work as prostitutes out of La Cueva and La Costeñita, the two cantinas owned by Rojas and Belamonte.
Rojas, an illegal immigrant, was sentenced this month to 16 years in prison for human trafficking. Belamonte will be sentenced in June.
Awaiting extradition to the U.S. is Gerardo ‘El Gallo’ Salazar who has been in a Mexican jail since 2010. Salazar, a so-called ‘Romeo pimp’, romanced young girls in Mexican villages with false promises and delivered them to Rojas and Belamonte. Some of the girls were as young as 14.
I think Judge Hughes made a very wise decision. This will bring a measure of justice to the five teens. I believe that this is far better than awarding the $602,000 to the government, as is usually the case.
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