Yesterday's unsealing of a four-count indictment in the Middle District of Tennessee has brought charges against eight Venezuelan nationals for running a commercial sex enterprise right out of Nashville motels. The accused, aged between 22 and 51, are alleged to have engaged in various illegal activities, including sex trafficking and racketeering, stretching from July 2022 to March 2024, as reported by the Office of Public Affairs.
These eight individuals, identified by court documents as Yilibeth del Carmen Rivero-De Caldera, Kleiver Daniel Mota-Rivero, Yuribetzi Del Valle Gomez Machuca, Wilmarys Del Valle Manzano Solorzano, Frankyanna Del Valle Romero-Rivero, Endrik Alexander Morales-Rivero, Jesus Enrique Castillo Rodriguez, and Ariannys Beatriz Gutierrez-Carrillo, reportedly utilized online platforms for posting ads and directed clients via internet and cellphones to the motels for engaging in commercial sex; the profits from these illicit activities enriched the defendants, the indictment laid out this narrative of exploitation as it unfolded behind the closed doors of temporary motel lodgings, where victims, uprooted and displaced, found themselves ensnared in a web of coercion and control, all for a stranger's gain. Acting U.S. Attorney Robert E. McGuire emphasized, "We are coming after transnational criminal organizations like TdA, but this case shows that we will also do whatever it takes to stop those who would traffick women and girls no matter who is behind their suffering," as stated by the Office of Public Affairs.
In addition to the trafficking charges, the indictment reveals that three of the accused—Rivero-De Caldera, her son Mota-Rivero, and Gomez Machuca—face further charges for a sex trafficking conspiracy that allegedly involved force, fraud, and coercion. It also details a coercive debt scheme imposed by Rivero-De Caldera and Mota-Rivero on their victims, ensuring a continuous cycle of exploitation as they paid off "debts" that seemed designed to never be fully repaid. Mota-Rivero faces an additional charge for firearm possession as an illegal alien. Convictions on these charges carry severe penalties, including life sentences for sex trafficking conspiracy and up to 15 years for illegal possession of a firearm, as detailed by the Office of Public Affairs.
Prosecuting the case for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee is Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke K. Schiferle, supported by Trial Attorneys Lindsey Roberson and Jessica Arco from the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
