A 16-year-old girl was raped by a sex trafficker to pay off a family's £10,000 debt, police have claimed. Juven Pineda, 34, faces charges of second-degree rape and human trafficking after his capture in North Carolina. He was then transferred to Louisiana, where police say Pineda had threatened the victim with her family's outstanding debt.
A bail commissioner on June 10 ordered Pineda to be held without bond pending the outcome of the case against him. A paralegal document seen by The Guardian notes the victim was born in November 2002 and had been sexually trafficked from Honduras to Kenner through Mexico.
The police statement noted that investigators soon identified Pineda as the suspect and that the client now lived in North Carolina. The statement said Pineda had helped smuggle the victim's father into the US before doing the same with her for free on May 16, 2019. This is according to what she told investigators during a series of interviews beginning in October 2023.
Police determined that the girl's father brought her to a home in New Orleans a few weeks later, and that after a few months, she was moved into a home near Pineda's property in New Orleans. It was at this property that he informed her she was now responsible for $13,500 (around £10,000) in debts she and her father owed him.
Pineda allegedly threatened to physically harm her family in Honduras if she did not settle the debt, which she could do by becoming his “woman”. This, according to the victim, meant cleaning his house, living with him as “a couple” and being raped by him repeatedly.
Investigators obtained a warrant to arrest Pineda in March 2024. North Carolina’s highway patrol detained him on that warrant on April 24. Jail records show he was booked with three counts of second-degree rape and one count of human trafficking.
Police in Kenner say the case is a stark reminder of how human trafficking "often occurs behind closed doors, and victims are frequently afraid to come forward". Kenner police chief Keith Conley added in a statement: “If you see something, say something. Human trafficking thrives in silence. A single phone call could help save a victim from exploitation and abuse.”
Second-degree rape in Louisiana can carry between five and 40 years in prison. Human trafficking can carry 20 years, though that can be enhanced under certain circumstances.
