INDIANAPOLIS — Detectives believe a South American gang is behind a sex trafficking operation busted in Indianapolis.
IMPD says they got a tip Tuesday morning that a teenage girl told a neighbor she and four other women were being held and sex trafficked at a house on Eagledale Drive, just south of 30th Street and just north of the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course.
A woman at the house told police she was driven to Indy from Boston for work to help bring her family to the United States. When she got to the house, she says she was forced to have sex with “the boss,” then engage in sex for money.
All the money was allegedly collected by another man running the house, 29-year-old Alejandro Santiago. He is charged with three counts of promoting prostitution.
Police did not catch the boss at the house. But detectives believe this operation is the work of the El Tren de Aragua gang based in Venezuela.
The gang started in a prison in Venezuela 20 years ago.
It specializes in human and drug trafficking. The organization has spread to Columbia, Peru and Chile with other South American countries reporting activity. According to our NBC affiliate in Chicago, agents from this so-called mega gang were showing up there in October of last year.
U.S. border patrol agents have arrested at least 38 members of the gang in six different parts of the United States. Officials say one of the challenges is because the gang is based in Venezuela. The United States doesn't have diplomatic relations with Venezuela, so police in the two countries can't communicate about criminals and gangs.
"Typically, so much of trafficking is relational in the United States. Probably at least 90 percent of the time they're being trafficked by someone they know that could be a boyfriend or their own family members," said Hope Center Indy associate director Mary Nolen.
One woman who lives near the alleged prostitution house said prostitution has been going on at the house for about a year. She believes drugs were also being sold out of the house.
She was afraid to talk on camera but said she has two teen daughters. She said men coming to the neighborhood mistook her house for the prostitution house and propositioned her.
The woman rescued by police received victim assistance and transportation to the bus station to get back to Boston.
Hope Center Indy provides safe housing and residential programming for women coming out of sex trafficking.
"We just commend women for stepping out, and we commend them for their bravery, because it takes courage to want to break free from someone who has been abusing you or someone who's been trafficking you and just want everyone to know that they're worth it and that they do deserve to rebuild their life and to have that freedom,” said Nolen.
Nolen encourages everyone to take an online class to help them recognize red flags of human trafficking.
"It can be hard for those of us, or people that aren't around the issue of sex trafficking, to know what to do,” said Nolen. “But typically, we say if you see something, say something and there's hotlines you can call."
Nolen recommends the Rescue America hotline at 833-599-3733 (FREE). For more information and resources for survivors of sex trafficking visit the Hope Center Indy website.
"We haven't seen a lot of women that come into our program come from that particular circumstance, but I know that traffickers often do like to prey on people with vulnerabilities, and being an immigrant can have a lot of vulnerabilities they can take advantage of," said Nolen.