Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of smuggling a woman into Utah eight years ago and forcing her into prostitution has been arrested and charged with human trafficking.
Santos Moyica Mojica, 44, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with aggravated human trafficking, a first-degree felony; and engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Wednesday. Prosecutors with the Utah Attorney General's Office have asked he be held on $250,000 bond.
Investigators say Mojica met a woman in Guatemala in 2008 and convinced her to move to Mexico with him. The woman said she wanted to also bring her four children. Mojica convinced her to go to Mexico, then said "he would see that her children were brought to Mexico later," according to charging documents.
But once in Mexico, the woman said Mojica "locked her in the house and she was not allowed to leave" except when she went to work, the charges state.
Two months later, Mojica said they were moving to Utah.
"(The woman) had never heard of Utah before," according to the charges. "Mojica used 'coyotes' or illegal human smugglers to get himself and (the woman) across the border," the charges state.
For six months, the woman worked at various markets. But after that, Mojica told the woman "to have sex with one of the men they had met at the market in exchange for money. Mojica told (the woman) if she did not engage in commercial sex, he would abandon her in Utah and he would make sure her kids never made it across the border. Mojica told (the woman) he knew all the 'coyotes' and that if he told them not to bring her kids across the border, she would not see them again," investigators wrote in the charges.
For next eight years, the woman said she had sex with various men and gave her money to Mojica "out of fear of not seeing her children," the charges state. Mojica also "regularly threatened to kill her, leave her on the street, or have her deported if she did not do what he told her."
Court documents say the woman had actually told people what was happening over the past eight years, including making reports to police. "But she was afraid to follow through with these reports due to the threats against her. Eventually, she began working with victim advocates and became comfortable enough to come forward with this information."
