Sex Slave Escapee Opens Up And Reveals Her Terrifying Experience
05/18/2017 02:23 am EDT
Every year there are thousands of women trafficked to New York City from Latin America and China to work in brothels and massage parlors or as out-call prostitutes.
Just last month, eight members of a gang of pimps pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to racketeering, sex trafficking of minors and human smuggling. Each member of the Rendon-Reyes gang faces life in prison.
The Anti-Trafficking Initiative at Sanctuary for Families interviewed 356 suspected victims of sex trafficking in Queens and Brooklyn last year, according to Lori Cohen, who is a crusading lawyer and the initiative's director.
Sandra, 30, is one former sex slave helped by Sanctuary for Families. Kidnapped from her hometown in central Mexico and forced into the sex trade at age 19, she escaped her pimp-captor in 2011 and has received counseling, legal aid and health care from the group ever since. Wanting to protect her family, Sandra declined to provide her last name.
Up Next: Ex-Inmate Wants To Sell Aaron Hernandez Note
Sandra is originally from a small town in Mexico where she met her pimp Alfredo when she was 19-years-old. He offered her a job at his brother's cellphone shop and the two instantly became close. After working with Alfredo for a week he told her he wanted to introduce her to his parents in a town over and she agreed.
On their way to see meet his parents, Sandra knew something was off. The two ended up at the home of Alfredo's sister and that's where everything went downhill.
"She handed me some skirts that were too big, and a thin packet of pills. She told me that they were for birth control. I didn't understand why she was giving them to me," Sandra said. "Later, Alfredo came to my room. He ripped off my jeans and raped me. It was my first time. I couldn't stop crying."
More: Plane Goes Missing Near Bermuda Triangle, Strange Potential Explanation Revealed
From there the two traveled all through Mexico making their way to New York City.
"I always wore a tight, short skirt and stilettos. Alfredo was my "padrote" (pimp), and he arranged for different drivers to take me through Corona, Jackson Heights and sometimes Brooklyn," she said. "I would nod off in the car. I had a different driver every week."
She also revealed that rest was something she rarely received and some days were worse than others. "On a bad day, when we left New York and went to Long Island or Connecticut, I couldn't rest," she said. "One day, over the span of 16 consecutive hours in Boston, there were 80 men."
Sandra describes her experience as something similar to food delivery. "We were delivered like pizzas," she said.
And it wasn't just sexual abuse, Sandra said her captor would often beat her and threaten to kill her family if she didn't do what he said. But after years of abuse she had enough and left without anything to her name. She went to the Mexican Consulate who helped her get a visa and helped her mother come to the country. As for her former pimp, Sandra said:
"I don't really know what happened to Alfredo. I think he moved back to Mexico," she said. "I am helping American authorities track him down. I hope he gets arrested. I want justice for what Alfredo did to me, and what others continue to do to poor Mexican girls."
More: Teen On Bicycle Gets Wrecked After SUV Driver Slams Into Him
Sandra hasn't let her experience deter her. She spoke about the future revealing she wants to go to school and is working hard to get there.
"I'm not afraid of anyone anymore," she said.
She continued, "I'm also trying to get my life back. I have a 5-year-old son, who is not the result of my past life. I need to learn English. I work in a restaurant now, but I want to go to culinary school to become a chef. This is my dream."
"When I'm at home with my son, I bake cookies that I try to sell to make extra money," she told New York Post. "On my favorite cookies, I write "freedom" in big letters. After everything, I still have hope."
[H/T New York Post]
Disclosure: PopCulture. is owned by Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.