The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office on Thursday announced the arrest and charges for 22 alleged members of an international human trafficking ring based in Bergen County that would force women into sexual slavery, and had operated in the county for as many as six years, authorities said.
In a virtual press conference Thursday, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella announced that 22 people were arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in the human trafficking ring that victimized more than 50 people, many of them Mexican immigrants, by forcing them into prostitution. More than 1,500 clients of the forced prostitution were identified, said Robert Anzilotti, the office’s Chief of Detectives.
Through a months-long sting, dubbed “Operation Hope in Darkness,” the Prosecutor’s Office arrested 21 people and charged them with multiple crimes that include prostitution, racketeering, money laundering and human trafficking.
On Wednesday morning, more than 100 detectives from the Prosecutor’s Office executed 19 search warrants in Bergen and Hudson Counties, and arrested 21 people. The trafficking ring’s operation spanned Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex and Passaic Counties, even crossing the Hudson River, operating in Rockland County and Queens County, New York.
Among the individuals charged with crimes is Nancy Rincon, 61, one of the alleged ring-leaders, who is currently on the run in Colombia, said Anzilotti. The office is working with the Department of Justice to locate, arrest and extradite Rincon to face justice in New Jersey, he said.
The human trafficking ring was an international, highly organized operation that victimized women from ages 18 to mid-30s. In local apartments and condominiums across New Jersey and New York, the women were paid to service as many as 40 clients a day for 12 hours at a time, said Anzilotti. Continue reading “22 accused of running human trafficking ring in N.J. for past six years”