A Mexican woman living illegally in Houston and her son will spend years in federal prison for sex trafficking women in cantina backrooms, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Alamdar S. Hamdani said in a news release.
Maria Botello-Morales, 57, and her son Edgar Adrian Botello, 31, also of Houston, pleaded guilty in 2023, a news release said.
U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen sentenced Botello-Morales to 23 years and four months in a federal prison and Botello to 15 years.
Restitution will be determined at a later date, authorities said Tuesday.
Since Botello-Morales is not a U.S. citizen, she is expected to face removal proceedings after she is released from prison.
Botello will serve 15 years of supervised release after he finishes his prison sentence. While on supervised release, he also will have to comply with requirements restricting his access to children and the internet. Both also will be ordered to register as sex offenders.
“Cantina cases shine a light on a unique form of trafficking where mostly undocumented women are sexually exploited for the financial benefit of the traffickers,” Hamdani said in the news release. “These individuals stole the American dream from the victims. This form of trafficking takes advantage of the fear these victims live in and we are grateful for the hard work of the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission (TABC) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in bringing them justice.”
TABC Chairman Kevin J. Lilly said: “TABC is proud to work with the Office of the U.S. Attorney and our other partners in the effort to end human trafficking in Texas. We join our fellow Texans in denouncing this heinous crime and reaffirming our pledge to help free the victims of human trafficking.”
In her plea, Botello-Morales admitted to sex trafficking with force, fraud or coercion; conspiracy to do so; and sex trafficking of a minor.
Botello pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking with force, fraud or coercion; two counts of sex trafficking of adults; and possession of child pornography.
Authorities said that in 2007, Botello-Morales recruited a girl from Mexico and caused her to engage in commercial sex. Botello-Morales also took payment directly from the commercial sex buyers.
Officials said that Botello-Morales ran the cantina, or small bar, Puerto Alegre with Botello and others from 2015 to 2020. It was a cantina where females were forced to engage in commercial sex in backrooms built for that purpose, authorities said.
Botello-Morales, Botello and others threatened and intimidated the victims with violence to manipulate them into engaging in commercial sex, the news release said.
The victims told authorities they started at the bar working as waitresses, but Botello-Morales told them they had to engage in commercial sex. If they refused, she threatened them with violence, they said.
Some of the victims said they saw violence and weapons at the bar and in the back area where sex acts took place.
Each said they had to take customers to the backrooms through a door hidden from view of the bar. They reportedly were given a condom wrapped in a paper towel and were told not to spend more than 15 minutes in the room, for which they charged about $70. When time ran out, they gave the money to whoever was guarding the room.
Investigators said that one victim said when she refused to go to work, Botello-Morales sent someone to physically assault her.
The victims said Botello regularly carried a weapon and was the enforcer; he also passed out the condoms and collected the money.
During the execution of a search warrant at the home Botello-Morales and Botello shared, law enforcement officers said they found loaded firearms in his room, as well as a computer with child pornography.
According to the news release, another co-conspirator, Esteban Toribio, 65, of Houston, pleaded guilty June 17. Toribio held the liquor license for the bar, authorities said. Toribio reported the illegal activity to authorities in a bid to gain control of the cantina.
Botello-Morales’ nephew, Arian Botello, 26, also was convicted in the conspiracy, the news release said. He was an enforcer who used weapons, threats and intimidation to keep the victims compliant, according to a complaint.
Authorities did not state whether Toribio or Arian Botello had been sentenced.
The mother and son will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
The TABC and HSI investigated the case with help from the Houston Police Department as part of the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Zack prosecuted the case.
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