NEWARK, N.J., July 22 (UPI) -- Ten people are facing charges in an alleged slavery ring that forced would-be waitresses to have sex with customers at bars in Union City and Guttenberg, N.J.
A federal indictment handed down in Newark alleges the suspects ran a slavery and prostitution network that ensnared girls as young as 14. The women told investigators they had been raped and later forced to take abortion-inducing pills, Newhouse News Service reported Friday.
One of the women said she gave birth last January, but the baby died after one of her captors tried to stuff the newborn down a toilet.
The ringleader was identified as Luisa Medrano, 50, of Cliffside Park, N.J. She and nine others are charged with conspiring to commit forced labor, smuggling and harboring aliens.
The investigation began after a man spotted his cousin working in a bar. She told him she had been smuggled into the United States and was prohibited from leaving the bar.
