Illegal Immigration

Alert Pasco Sheriff's Office deputies recently made an arrest that underscores our agency's commitment to enforcing federal immigration laws in our local community.

On March 28, Pasco deputies arrested a husband and wife for scheming to defraud and the criminal use of personal information of two illegal immigrants in Dade City. Our investigation alleges that Eugenio and Starann Riviera first created forged powers of attorney for two illegal immigrants, and then used their personal information to open bank accounts and obtain credit in their names. The victims came forward when Eugenio Riviera drove them to New Mexico to take a driver's license test, which they failed, and he told them they had to pay him $500 and give him their car. He claimed that he was a highway patrol officer and threatened to turn them in for being illegal aliens.

Both Rivieras were booked into the Land O' Lakes Detention Center on $15,000 bail each. We have notified U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, which is conducting its own investigation. The Pasco Sheriff's Office is committed to assisting federal authorities at the local level in protecting our borders from illegal immigration while also preventing criminals from taking advantage of the vulnerable and powerless in our community.

Related Link: Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is the exploitation by force, fraud or coercion of vulnerable people - often immigrants - for forced labor, domestic servitude, or commercial sex operations. Human trafficking has become a multi-billion dollar global crime, impacting nations - and neighborhoods - around the world. Florida is one of the highest destination states for women and children trafficked into the United States. In the past five years, law enforcement and social service providers have identified multiple cases of human trafficking in the Tampa Bay area.

In October 2006, the Clearwater Florida Police Department was awarded a Department of Justice grant to fund the creation of the Clearwater Area Task Force on Human Trafficking (CATFHT). The mission of the task force is to identify and rescue victims, create a coordinated law enforcement system to investigate and prosecute these crimes, and to deliver social, legal and immigration services to human trafficking victims in the Tampa Bay area. The Pasco County Sheriff's Office is part of this task force. The task force serves as a mechanism for communication and strategic collaboration between law enforcement agencies and service providers; coordinates community resources; promotes community awareness of human trafficking; and trains intermediary communities on human trafficking indicators and responses.

An Overview of the Problem
Recent studies estimate that approximately 18,000 to 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States annually. Florida is one of the top three "destination states" within the U.S. for trafficking. It's not Florida's beautiful scenery that draws them, but rather industrial sectors such as a large service industry, agriculture and the presence of large airports, coastlines and other transit ports that make our state attractive to traffickers. There is much information that we do not know about human trafficking due to the secretive nature and fear of the victims involved. However, we do know that the people who are often preyed upon by traffickers do not speak English, are very poor or vulnerable due to age, disability, education, etc. We also know of the tactics traffickers use such as kidnapping and making false promises of better lives and work in the U.S. People who are trafficked come from unstable and economically devastated places. They may have been victimized or abandoned. Many are seeking work so that they can provide for themselves and their families. Traffickers count on economic deprivation, high rates of illiteracy and people who are desperate.

Next to drug trafficking, human trafficking is the most lucrative business for organized crime. Recent estimates show that the human trafficking business yields approximately $9 billion in profits each year. Unlike drugs and arms traffickers, human traffickers can continue to exploit their victims after the initial point of sale. Traffickers hold their victims by physically isolating or guarding them, as well as coercing them psychologically. Most victims don't even know where they are in the U.S., nor do they know that they have any rights under U.S. law.

Tampa Bay Human Trafficking Hot Line
(en Español y Inglés)
Report trafficking crimes, suspicious activity, or get help by calling the CATF tip line at 1-727-562-4917