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A “madam” who operated a brothel in the Pilsen community and forced young women into the sex trade using threats and intimidation against girls as young as 16 has pled guilty and been sentenced to eight years in prison,  according to the Office of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Rubicela Montero, 40, pled guilty to one count of Involuntary Sexual Servitude of a Minor and received an eight year prison sentence. 

According to prosecutors, the investigation began when one of the victims called the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and reported that Montero was running a brothel and forcing her and other young girls to prostitute themselves at a home near 31st and Millard in Chicago.

When the victim met Montero at a neighborhood laundry mat she told her she would hire her for cleaning work.  When the victim showed up for work, she was told she would instead be performing massages for male customers. In a desperate situation and having no job and four kids to support, the victim agreed.

After a few weeks Montero became angry with the victim and threatened to have her deported because she would not perform sex acts on the customers. Montero also threatened to tell her family what type of work she was doing. Afraid, the victim eventually relented to the defendant’s demands. When she eventually stopped working for Montero, the defendant repeatedly showed up at her house, banged on her door and threatened to kill her if she didn’t come back to work. She also found out when the victim got a new job and showed up there to harass her.

Eventually the victim called the trafficking hotline to report Montero.

Authorities launched an investigation and Montero was arrested after one of her employees agreed to have sex with an undercover officer for money. When questioned, Montero admitted to recruiting women as young as 16 to work for her. She further admitted to placing newspaper ads, scheduling clients, negotiating rates for sex acts, providing the girls with condoms and threatening the victims when they attempted to quit working for her.

“The sexual trafficking of vulnerable young women is a horrific crime that not only takes away a person’s rights, but also their freedom,” State’s Attorney Alvarez said.  “We will continue to investigate and target individuals who commit these acts and prosecute cases such as this one to the fullest extent of the law.”

State’s Attorney Alvarez thanked investigators from the Chicago Police Department as well as Beth Pfeiffer from the State’s Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit for their hard work on the case.

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