Three Venezuelan Nationals Plead Guilty to Sex Trafficking in Baton Rouge

BATON ROUGE, La. — Osleidy Vanesa Chourio Diaz, a 28-year-old Venezuelan national living in the United States illegally, pleaded guilty May 14 to one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion before U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles.

The plea covers her role in a sex trafficking ring that operated in Baton Rouge. Two other Venezuelan nationals charged in the same case also entered guilty pleas to related offenses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana said in a statement. The defendants remain in federal custody pending sentencing.

The scope of the ring described in the charging documents involved the recruitment and coercion of victims into commercial sex acts through physical violence, threats and deception. Federal prosecutors have not released the exact number of victims, but the case falls under 18 U.S.C. § 1591, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life.

Convicted sex traffickers must also comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act requirements after any prison term.

The guilty pleas change the case status from active prosecution to sentencing phase. Judge deGravelles will set a date for sentencing hearings in the coming months. Once sentenced, the defendants face deportation proceedings after completion of their prison terms because they entered the country illegally.

Downstream, the convictions require the Bureau of Prisons to designate facilities and begin planning for long-term incarceration. The Department of Homeland Security must prepare removal orders that take effect upon release. The case also supplies data points for the Justice Department’s annual human-trafficking enforcement statistics, which Congress uses to assess funding levels for the FBI’s victim-assistance grants and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s transnational gang units.

Sentencing will fix the exact prison terms and restitution amounts victims can claim through the federal Crime Victims Fund.

This marks the latest federal conviction of Venezuelan nationals for sex trafficking inside the United States. The Justice Department has brought similar cases in multiple districts since 2023 as part of its effort to target transnational criminal networks operating in mid-sized cities.

The Middle District of Louisiana has prosecuted at least three such rings involving Venezuelan defendants in the past 24 months.