3 sentenced in southeast Houston human smuggling operation

HOUSTON -- Three men involved in a human-smuggling ring that held 115 people captive in a small Houston home were sentenced to at least nine years in prison on Wednesday, federal prosecutors said.

The men pleaded guilty in April to charges that included conspiracy to harbor and transport illegal immigrants.

Authorities have said the captives were held against their will until a ransom was paid to allow their illegal entry into the U.S. They were found in March, crammed into a home of less than 1,300 square feet and stripped of their shoes and most of their clothing to keep them from escaping.

They had been threatened with violence if they did not comply, and there were instances of some being kicked and beaten and females being groped, according to a criminal complaint. One pregnant girl was among people struck with a wooden paddle.

Jonathan Solorzano-Tavila, 30, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Eugenio Sesmas-Borja, 20, and Jose Cesmas-Borja, 26, were each sentenced to more than nine years.

They were among five men, all from Mexico, arrested March 19 when investigators discovered the house. The other two men have also pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in September.

The men admitted obtaining "substantial" profits as a result of the operation, prosecutors said in a news release. In one instance, the men contacted the mother of one of the captives and told her to pay an additional $13,000 for her daughter and two granddaughters. She was told that if she didn't pay, the men would "make her family disappear," according to the release.