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María Botello Morales forced Hispanic immigrants into prostitution (PHOTOS)

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  • María Botello Morales ran a prostitution ring out of a bar.
  • Waitresses were threatened if they didn’t comply.
  • They were forced to perform sex acts.

María Botello Morales admitted before a federal court in Texas to having forced dozens of Hispanic immigrants into prostitution. Morales, 56, conducted her business in the Puerto Alegre cantina, in the eastern part of the Houston metropolitan area.

Mrs. María Botello Morales operated a veritable cantina of terror in Puerto Alegre, together with her 28-year-old son Édgar Botello, her 23-year-old nephew Arián Botello, and her 31-year-old daughter Yudy Lucatero. The waitresses who did not agree to perform sex acts on clients suffered beatings, harassment and threats.

María Botello Morales admits to being a violent pimp

María Botello Morales admits to being a violent pimp
María Botello Morales admitted before a federal judge in Texas that she forced dozens of Hispanic immigrants into prostitution. (PHOTO: Houston Police Department)

María Botello Morales was arrested in April 2021 after federal agents in Houston, Texas began investigating her in 2020 for sex trafficking Hispanic immigrants in the Puerto Alegre cantina, 2225 McCarty Street, in the Hispanic neighborhood of Pleasantville Area.

Prosecutors for the United States Department of Justice coordinated the investigation with undercover agents from the Houston Police Department (HPD) of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC).

The Puerto Alegre cantina was the headquarters of her sex trafficking network

The Puerto Alegre cantina was the headquarters of his sex trafficking network
PHOTO: David Dorantes/MundoNow

On Monday, January 30, 2023, María Botello Morales admitted in the Federal Court in Houston Texas, before Federal District Judge Andrew S. Han, her leadership in the criminal organization in the Puerto Alegre canteen. The judge determined that he will issue the sentence in June of this year.

The plot of terror, violence and sex trafficking perpetrated by María Botello Morales began in 2007 when she recruited immigrants from Mexico, even some even minors, to work in the Puerto Alegre canteen as waitresses. It was all a hoax.

At least 16 Hispanic women were forced into sex work

At least 16 Hispanics were forced into sex work
PHOTO: Department of Homeland Security Investigations

As soon as the Hispanic immigrants were hired as waitresses by María Botello Morales, Édgar Botello and Arián Botello entered the scene. The two boys were responsible for intimidating and threatening the women with guns.

Arián Botello and Édgar Botello even went to the houses of their victims to make it clear that they knew where they lived and what could happen to them. The 16 victims had been living in fear.

Undercover agents investigated the family-owned bar

Undercover agents investigated the Botello Morales canteen
PHOTO: Department of Homeland Security Investigations

One of those victims, whose name will not be revealed in this story to protect her identity, told investigators that María Botello Morales charged clients at the Puerto Alegre cantina $70 for 15 minutes of sex in a dirty bathroom converted into a room.

Of those $70, each of the women received $16 from María Botello Morales. During the undercover investigation by HPD, HSI and TABC agents, several posing as customers at the canteen, authorities discovered that some of the waitresses were minors.

A woman had the courage to report the abuse

A woman had the courage to denounce the abuse
PHOTO: Taken from Twitter

Based on these heartbreaking testimonies of the women forced into prostitution, along with other evidence, the US Department of Justice, the highest federal authority, opened a case against María Botello Morales and her henchmen. She has been convicted and is awaiting her sentence.

The trials of Édgar Botello, Arián Botello and Yudy Lucatero are still taking place. There is an important detail in the case documents. The whole network was exposed by a victim who had the courage to report them to authorities.

“We remain committed to stopping human trafficking”

"We remain committed to stopping human trafficking"
Edgar Botello was his mother’s armed wing, in the forced prostitution network in the Houston canteen. (PHOTO: Houston Police Department)

Another of the women who was forced into prostitution by María Botello Morales revealed to the agents that on one occasion she refused to go to work because she was fed up with the abuse she suffered. Hours after, Arián Botello and Édgar Botello arrived at her house and beat her to death.

Kevin Lilly, president of the TABC, said that María Botello Morales’ crimes show “how far the traffickers can go to recruit and abuse the victims even when those victims are girls…we remain committed to finding and stopping human trafficking in Texas.”

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