Convicted human smuggler headed to prison

PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A 43-year-old man who was convicted of smuggling women into Florida from Mexico has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta said Juan Luis Cadena-Sosa smuggled women into the country during the 1990s only to force them into a life of prostitution. He will be headed to prison and forced to pay his victims part of a $964,000 restitution settlement, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday.

Wednesday's sentence also included Cadena-Sosa's 15 co-defendants, who will be required to pay part of the settlement.

The attorney's report said during Cadena-Sosa's time as a human trafficker, he worked with his wife and several family members to lure women to head across the Mexico-U.S. border.

Once the women were in the United States, the smugglers would then force them to work as prostitutes if they could not pay them $3,000, the report said.

Cadena-Sosa was extradited from Mexico to Palm Beach County, Fla., in 2005 and pleaded guilty to related charges of human trafficking, the Sun-Sentinel said.