After spending a year investigating what authorities believed to be a massive human trafficking ring in West Texas, the efforts of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) have finally paid off.
According to the recent news release from DPS, investigators discovered a massive network of human traffickers with an influence reaching from Cuba through Central America and into El Paso -- a distance of over 1,600 miles.
Investigators then learned the tragic truth: women smuggled into the U.S. were forced into prostitution in order to pay their smugglers. These victims were advertised by people online selling these women and transporting them to their "buyers."
DPS agents arrested a total of nine people who were involved in a long list of criminal charges, including the following:
In a shocking turn of events, one person who was arrested was actually an attorney who was accused of soliciting women for sexual acts with clients.
The attorney was booked into the El Paso County Jail, along with two others who were charged with promotion of prostitution and possession of a controlled substance.