18 nabbed in human-smuggling scheme

Federal and state authorities in California arrested 18 persons during a series of overnight raids last week that targeted a sophisticated human-smuggling operation authorities said brought hundreds of South Korean women into the United States to work as prostitutes.

A criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles late Friday charged 23 persons with conspiracy. Five were listed as fugitives.

Those arrested, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman Dean Boyd, were charged with harboring illegal aliens for an immoral purpose, harboring and transporting illegal aliens and violating the Travel Act, a federal statute that prohibits moving people across state lines for illegal sexual purposes, such as prostitution.

In addition to the criminal arrests, Mr. Boyd said, immigration officials took into custody 46 women who were working at brothels that were shut down. Agents are interviewing the women to learn more about the circumstances surrounding how they came to the United States and how they were treated once they arrived, he said.

"This type of criminal organization exploits the hopes and dreams of immigrants," said U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang in Los Angeles. "In this case, they exploited women, some of whom apparently suffered injuries as a result of their work. My office works very hard to eliminate these types of exploitation and to secure punishment for those who engage in them, seeking to profit at the expense of others."

Mr. Boyd said the investigation focused on a criminal organization called the "Jung Organization," which reportedly smuggled South Korean women into the United States and then provided them to brothel operators. The brothels were concealed behind businesses that purported to be massage parlors and "out-call service" operations. He said the prostitutes were managed by an underground network of Korean "taxi" services operated by members and associates of the Jung Organization.

The taxi services coordinated the prostitutes' daily schedules and worked hand-in-hand with the brothel operators.

An affidavit in the case said ringleaders Young Joon Jung and Ho Kyung Kim oversaw efforts to recruit prospective prostitutes in South Korea and then arranged for them to be brought to the United States. Some of the women were smuggled into the country across the Mexican and Canadian borders, it said.

The affidavit said the women paid up to $16,000 each to be smuggled into the country. Once they arrived, it said the women were expected to work as prostitutes, with a portion of their earnings going to repay their smuggling debts. As part of the scheme, some of the women were transported to Northern California, Colorado and Texas to work as prostitutes, the affidavit said.

An army of federal agents executed search warrants at 28 locations across the greater Los Angeles area. The targeted sites included suspected brothels and so-called human smuggling "drop houses." The brothels were housed in a variety of businesses, including chiropractic offices, acupuncture clinics, spas and massage parlors.

During the raids, agents seized nearly $300,000 in cash and more than $650,000 in bank accounts.