When it comes to the scourge of human trafficking in the U.S., there are two battles being waged. One is the fight by conscientious members of government and law enforcement at all levels to take the traffickers out of circulation. The other is the war being waged on those looking to end trafficking by overly lenient judges.
An example of this second battle occurred in Rockville, Md., recently after police conducted a successful sting that brought two man, one an illegal alien, to justice for pimping out prostitutes. According to D.C. ABC affiliate WJLA:
In August 2018, the Montgomery County Police Department’s gang unit conducted an undercover sting at an apartment building along Garland Avenue in Silver Spring, near Rolling Terrace Elementary School. The officers witnessed various men come and go from the building.
Police stopped a number of suspected “johns” as they left the area. All admitted to paying for sex with an unknown woman inside. One man confessed to shelling out $30 for a 20-minute appointment. Another man explained he knocked on the apartment door, was let in by a short, heavyset man, paid that individual $35 and was then allowed into the bedroom.
The following day, police entered the first-floor apartment with a search warrant. Inside they found a man, woman, condoms, lubricants, wipes, lingerie, ledgers, $1,000 in cash and a small bag of cocaine.
Investigators interviewed the woman, who revealed she had provided sexual services to 63 men in three days’s time. They also spoke with the man, identified as Roberto Diaz-Mejia, who lives in the apartment “as part of an arrangement where he collects the money from clients when they come to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes,” police wrote in court documents.
Police also arrested Diaz-Mejia’s contact, Herlan Javie Rosales-Velasquez, who would stop by the apartment every two days to collect the previous days’ earnings.
In court, the prosecutor argued:
There’s no form of employment [for either man] aside from the illegal form of employment described in the charging document. …
The state’s attorney came down especially hard on the illegal alien, Diaz-Mejia:
Mr. Rosales-Velasquez is a danger to the safety and welfare of the woman he is alleged to have been exploiting, as well as a danger to the community. Furthermore he is facing up to 30 years of incarceration, and up to $20,000 in fines if convicted. So the state thinks that presents an incentive for flight.
Montgomery County District Court Commissioner A. Onwuzuruike was unfazed by the argument. She stated that because Rosales-Velasquez was gainfully employed[!] and had no apparent criminal record, she was willing to grant him a bond that required he post $800 for release. Hours later he was out on the street.
To add insult to injury, the court “neglected to confirm Rosales-Velasquez’s home address prior to his discharge from jail. A Hyattsville address listed in court documents turned out to be invalid.”
This is why we as a nation can’t have nice things.
