In a plea deal that is certain to land him in prison for at least 15 years, William Alberto Lopez, an alleged gang boss in Houston, admitted to trafficking and forcing several Central American women into prostitution.
Later this month, Lopez, who authorities claim is a member of a family-run sex trafficking group, was set to go on trial for 27 counts of sex trafficking and human smuggling. In accordance with the plea deal, Lopez entered a guilty plea last week to one count of aiding and abetting sex trafficking by force and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force in federal court in Houston.
A request for comment from Sean Buckley, a private lawyer who started defending Lopez soon after he was taken into custody by Mexican officials in April 2018, was not answered. A grand jury accused Lopez and 22 other people on counts including sex trafficking, narcotics trafficking, firearm sales, human smuggling, and identity theft approximately five months prior to the high-profile arrest.
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Lopez’s mother and his four siblings were among those charged; according to authorities, they were all leaders of the Southwest Cholos, a gang that allegedly operates in Southwest Houston. According to the plea deal, Lopez was a key player in the enterprise, and the family members were charged with operating brothels at multiple apartment buildings in the Gulfton region.
The plea deal states that between 2010 and 2017, Lopez arranged for smugglers to bring at least four women into the United States illegally from Mexico. According to the deal, Lopez informed one that she could work at his mother’s restaurant and pay off a $4,500 admission fee.
However, Lopez and his mother, Maria Angelica Moreno-Reyna, told the woman that there was no restaurant in Houston when she came in 2012 and that she would have sex with men at the Carriage Way Apartments on Dashwood Drive to pay off her debt.
According to the agreement, Lopez, who served as the woman’s pimp, forced her into sex work and threatened and mistreated her on multiple occasions. Lopez also made her get his initials permanently inked on her body. According to the agreement, Lopez also coerced another lady who worked at a brothel he ran in Cancun, Mexico, in 2016 to get his initials tattooed on her thigh and neck.
After her mother, who at the time resided at Carriage Way as per the arrangement, helped Moreno-Reyna move to Houston, the second woman managed to get out of the Cancun brothel but was coerced into doing sex work again.
According to the agreement, she occasionally refused to engage in prostitution in order to cover the $9,000 cost. Lopez responded to her refusals by threatening to hurt her son and her relatives in Nicaragua if she didn’t follow instructions. In addition, Lopez informed the woman that she owed him an extra $20,000 for escaping the brothel in Cancun.
The deal states that Lopez and his mother discussed over the phone in early 2017 the possibility of importing the woman’s sisters into the US to work at the brothels. According to the deal, days before a car that matched the description of one driven by Lopez was spotted outside the sisters’ Central American house, law enforcement agents wiretapped the communication and relocated the sisters.
The plea deal also describes how a third lady escaped from Houston to Mexico twice in 2012 and 2013, but she always returned to Texas when Lopez threatened to hurt her family. According to the plea deal, Lopez told the woman she wasn’t earning enough money for the sex trafficking ring, and she agreed to get cosmetic surgery after being threatened with violence herself.
According to the agreement, a fourth woman who refused to continue working for Lopez and his family was threatened with deportation without her kid born in the United States.
Three properties are listed in the agreement as being crucial to the trafficking ring:
- What appears to be a now-closed bar at 7396 Irvington Blvd. and the parking lot behind it were used to attract customers, also referred to as johns.
- A property in the 4000 block of Woodleigh Street was used to house those being trafficked.
- A property in the 1000 block of Coral Street was also used to house trafficked women.
Before the plea deal is finalized, it must be approved by U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019. Judge Peter Bray, a U.S. Magistrate, has advised him to do so.
Adam Goldman, the case’s primary prosecutor, has reached plea deals with 19 of the 23 defendants, according to court documents. Five people were charged in different instances, and the other four are still regarded as fugitives.
Among those who have entered guilty pleas are Moreno-Reyna and her four other sons: Freddy Montes, Walter Lopez, Eddie Alejandro, and Jose Luis Moreno. The sentencing proceedings that were put on hold due to Lopez’s trial will now resume.
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