SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Department of Justice announced a federal grand jury indictment charging Luz Maria Peña Lopez, 55, and her daughter, Tatiana Correa Peña, 36, both of Carolina, with forced labor and conspiracy to commit forced labor. Peña Lopez is also charged with document servitude, and her husband, Enrique Gutierrez Rivera, 54, a municipal police officer in Carolina, is charged with misprision of a felony. All three were arrested Tuesday morning.
According to the indictment, Peña Lopez and Correa Peña allegedly used physical beatings, restraint, threats, isolation, denial of hygiene and medical care, and the provision of drugs or unprescribed medication to compel an intellectually disabled adult woman to panhandle, engage in fraudulent and criminal activities, and perform domestic labor in their residence. They also allegedly converted the victim’s Social Security disability benefits for personal use. The indictment further alleges threats of violence and death, assaults with objects, confinement in a former animal shelter space, and deprivation of funds for basic hygiene items.
The FBI is investigating. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daynelle Alverez and Trial Attorney Jessica Arco of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. The maximum penalty for forced labor is 20 years in federal prison; the maximum penalty for misprision of a felony is three years. Sentences, if any, will be determined by a federal judge.
Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the FBI Field Office at 1-787-987-6500. If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
