Overview

• U.S. District Judge Fred Biery on Sept. 16 sentenced Edson Jose Contreras-Torrealba to 10 years in federal prison on trafficking charges and warned he will be removed to Venezuela after his term.
• Federal prosecutors said the case includes two human trafficking counts and an alien-in-possession-of-a-firearm offense after his Aug. 19, 2024 arrest with a 9mm pistol at a San Antonio hotel.
• Court records detail recruitment over Facebook, restrictions in an apartment and hotel rooms, up to 20–25 paid sex appointments per day, and a fabricated $30,000 debt enforced through coercion.
• The investigation began when San Antonio police probed an Aug. 19, 2024 social media ad for paid sex at a San Pedro Boulevard motel, leading an undercover officer to contact the victims.
• Co-defendant Eyleen Caribay Aular-Marin received a 70-month sentence on Sept. 3, while Ronayde Jose Salazar-Garcia is set for sentencing on Oct. 21, after an HSI–SAPD probe under DOJ’s Operation Take Back America.