At a news conference Friday, Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said the victims included 16 men and two women, according to the Houston Chronicle. Acevedo said the victims were held hostage in a northwest Houston home, adding the women were assaulted over a 25-day period, according to KPRC
The men arrested were identified as Jose Silvestre Chavarrieta-Gusman, 18, Fredy Moreno-Gil, 26, Gabriel Salazar-Bautista, 35, Jose Manuel Aviles-Diaz, 26, and Moris Gudiel Campos-Gomez, 39. They are charged with engaging in organized criminal activity by kidnapping, the Chronicle reported.
Happening now: HPD has arrested 5 men, charging then w human smuggling/ kidnapping. Investigators say 18 victims, 2 of them women, were held for randsom. #abc13 #HumanTrafficking pic.twitter.com/tb2u1ZQVdM
— Courtney Fischer (@CourtneyABC13) June 28, 2019
Three of the five men also were charged with sexual assault, Acevedo said at the news conference.
Houston police were contacted June 5 by a family who said their relative was being held for ransom, KTRK reported. Police worked with detectives with the homicide division, human trafficking unit and the criminal intelligence division to locate and rescue the victims, the television station reported.
Detectives recovered four guns, more than $10,000 and 19 grams of cocaine from the house, the Chronicle reported.
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