Group in USVI charged for allegedly running prostitution ring and harbouring illegal immigrants

ST THOMAS, United States Virgin Islands, CMC – United States law enforcement officials have arrested three members of a group allegedly running a prostitution ring and harbouring illegal immigrants in St Thomas.

A federal judge in the District of the Virgin Islands issued a criminal complaint and authorised arrest warrants charging 56-year-old Hussein Jamil, also known as Hussian Jamil Suarez, also known as Tony, 39-year-old Magda Castro Santos, also known as Tatiana, and 65-year-old, Julio Hidaldo De Pena for their alleged respective roles in a variety of criminal activities centered around an establishment known as Tootsys Gentlemen’s Club (Tootsys).

According to court documents, Jamil owns and operates Tootsys, a strip club in St Thomas, USVI, which he, Castro Santos, and Hidaldo De Pena are alleged to have operated as a brothel.

The alleged conspirators advertised Tootsys over Instagram and other platforms to recruit women to work at the club.

They are alleged to have hired both US citizens and illegal aliens as dancers and sex workers.

Jamil is alleged to have paid for US citizens to fly from elsewhere within the United States to St Thomas and financed smuggling operations for aliens to illegally enter the US Virgin Islands.

The court document notes that when the dancers arrived on St. Thomas for the purpose of working at Tootsys, the alleged conspirators’ coercive fee scheme pushed the dancers to make more money by engaging in commercial sex, both at Tootsys and through customers “buying out” dancers to take them to an off-site premises.

Jamil, Castro Santo, and Hildaldo de Pena are each charged with conspiracy to transport for the purpose of prostitution, conspiracy to commit interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises, and conspiracy to harbour aliens for financial gain.

If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for conspiracy to transport for the purpose of prostitution and conspiracy to commit interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises, and 10 years in prison for conspiracy to harbour aliens for financial gain.

The investigation and charges are also supported and prosecuted by the Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA), the Department of Justice’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organisations (TCOs).

The JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security and it has been expanded to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada and the Caribbean.

To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 455 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organsers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking, with more than 400 US convictions and more than 350 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.

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