Sex trafficker pleads guilty

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Mexican national Miguel Rugerio pleaded guilty to sex trafficking charges on Thursday in federal court in Atlanta.

Rugerio, 28, was charged with conspiring to illegally transport young women from Mexico to the U.S. for purposes of prostitution.

“Human traffickers trick, lie and coerce young women into this country with the promise that they will have their freedom, and work a legitimate job," said acting U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.

Rugerio admitted in his plea that, from July 2006 to August 2008, he and five others used "force, fraud and coercion" to bring five young women from Mexico to Atlanta. He promised his victims better lives and romantic intrigue, say prosecutors.

Instead he required them to work in the sex trade with several men per night, seven days a week.

Rugerio faces up to five years imprisonment. He remains in custody pending his sentencing on Jan. 27, 2010.