A San Antonio man has admitted in federal court that he smuggled three women from Cuba and trapped them in a strip club trafficking scheme that stretched across multiple states. The 46-year-old, identified in court records as Yoirlan Tome-Rojas, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three federal labor-trafficking charges after acknowledging that he used threats and debt bondage to control the women and collect their earnings. If the judge stacks the maximum penalties, the plea could translate into decades behind bars.
According to court filings reviewed by the San Antonio Express-News, Tome-Rojas paid for flights, drivers and hotel rooms to move three women into the United States, then saddled each of them with travel and living debts of up to $50,000. Prosecutors say he required the women to turn over all of their strip club earnings until those debts were repaid and also charged them for food, clothing, shelter and transportation along the way. Two of the women were held under this arrangement for about three months, according to the filings, while the length of control over the third victim is not clearly stated. The San Antonio Police Department's trafficking unit received a tip in March 2024 that helped launch the investigation, the Express-News reports.
Investigators Say Debt and Threats Drove the Scheme
Federal prosecutors describe what they call a debt-bondage operation built on constant financial pressure and explicit intimidation. The women were moved among strip clubs in San Antonio, Indiana and Michigan so they could be monitored and made less likely to escape, according to investigators. In interviews, the victims reported threats, including alleged threats that they would be shot if they tried to leave.
The investigation was a joint effort by the San Antonio Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations, with federal prosecutors in the Western District of Texas handling the case. For more on how that office pursues trafficking and related crimes, see the news page for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.
Charges, Penalties and What Comes Next
Tome-Rojas pleaded guilty to three counts of labor trafficking, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Court papers state that he collected about $1,000 from two of the women toward their supposed debts. Prosecutors say two of the victims feared not only for their own lives but also for the safety of family members still in Cuba. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Why This Case Hits Home in Texas
Advocates and law enforcement officials say the case is a stark example of how smuggling and financial control can collide to trap newly arrived migrants in forced labor. Texas has consistently ranked among the states with the highest volumes of contacts to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in recent years, according to reporting by the Houston Chronicle. Those calls and referrals feed into victim services nationwide, and the hotline's impact is mapped and analyzed by Polaris.
Anti-trafficking groups say victims often wait to report or never come forward at all because they fear retaliation, arrest or deportation. That is why anonymous tips and third-party reports are often the first crack in a trafficking operation. The National Human Trafficking Hotline operates 24 hours a day at 1-888-373-7888 and also offers confidential online chat at the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
