HOUSTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The discovery of a Houston slave ring that included women being forced into prostitution has drawn attention to the growing problem of human trafficking.
The human trafficking ring that Maximino "Chimino" Mondragon and seven others operated out of a Houston bar was busted in 2005, but their ongoing legal case has brought to light the lack of public awareness of such shocking crimes, the Houston Chronicle said Sunday.
Texas officials like Harris County Sheriff's Department Deputy Edwin Chapuseaux said that human trafficking was a growing problem nationwide, but is typically overlooked by society.
"It's everywhere. It's in restaurants and so-called spas. A lot of them are fronts for cantinas and brothels," Chapuseaux said. "Wherever there is some kind of labor, there's a possibility human trafficking could be happening."
The U.S. Department of Justice recently tabbed human trafficking as the world's third-most profitable criminal activity, the Chronicle reported.
As for Mondragon and his fellow defendants, all have pleaded guilty to a litany of charges, but only one has been sentenced to date.
