3 men convicted of working in Donna, Texas, hideout where migrants were 'tortured and raped'

Editor's note: This story mentions sexual assault. If you are in distress or need to talk to someone, please call RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Three men who worked at a safe house where migrants were allegedly raped and extorted have been convicted for their respective roles in the crime.

Jesus Valdez, Darrel Palomares and Rodrigo Acevedo were each sentenced to federal prison for bringing and harboring migrants.

The three men were charged in December 2020, along with two other co-defendants; Jonathan Romero and Abel Cavazos.

Background

A criminal complaint stated that on December 3, 2020, Homeland Security Investigations received information regarding a hiding place in Donna.

Special agents, along with Border Patrol, responded to the address and met with Cavazos. Cavazos refused to allow a search of the property and a short time later, officers saw several people fleeing a structure on the property heading north. After being apprehended, several of them admitted to being present in the country illegally.

Officers spoke with Cavazos again, who then agreed to search the property. There, authorities found 20 people, 13 of whom admitted to being migrants, the complaint states.

Valdez admitted in an interview that he was responsible for finding where to hide the migrants, driving them to the property and being responsible for their well-being.

Romero admitted to helping the guards feed and provide water to the migrants. Romero identified the guards as Palomares and Acevedo.

Acevedo told authorities that Cavazos owned the home on the property. Officers spoke with a witness, who identified Cavazos as calling the migrants' families asking for money and physically assaulting them.

Another witness told authorities that Cavazos carried a gun around migrants and was referred to as a “boss,” the document states.

Sentencing

During Valdez's sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane called him a ringleader.

Valdez said Romero was his brother. Romero, while out on bail, was killed in San Juan after being shot several times in the trunk area. Valdez added that Palomares was Romero's friend.

Crane said the female migrants were raped and the male migrants were sodomized by other co-conspirators.

“I wasn’t aware of everything that was going on, your honor,” Valdez said.

Prosecutors said the defendants had a calculated plan to extort migrants and torture them for money, including a demand for $5,000 from one of the victims who was raped.

Palomares was one of the men accused of sexually assaulting the women, which Palomares strongly denied.

“I want to state that I have nothing to do with the female,” Palomares said. “I told the Marshals that I would do whatever I had to do to prove to them that I had nothing to do with this woman. I am truly sorry for what happened, and if I could have stopped it, I would have stopped it.

Prosecutors said Palomares was, at a minimum, identified by several witnesses as pointing a gun at the victim while she was being sexually assaulted.

Valdez and Palomares were each sentenced to 10 years in prison on June 5. Acevedo was sentenced to 7.25 years in prison Wednesday morning. Cavazos' sentencing was postponed until June 27.