Woman Gets 8 Years for Prostituting Teen

Police receive tip of brothel operation from victim

A Little Village woman on Tuesday received eight years in prison after pleading guilty to charges she forced a 16-yera-old girl into prostitution.

Rubicela Montero, 40, was accused of running a brothel in Pilsen and forcing young women and girls into prostitution.

Prosecutors said Montero picked up a 16-year-old girl from her high school and used six other women to work shifts in the basement of a 31st Street and Millard Avenue home.

Chicago police began the investigation after one of the victims called the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.

The unnamed victim reports she was lured into the working from Montero, believing it to be legitimate work. Over time she was asked to perform messages for male customers then sexual acts. The victim says when she refused, Montero threatened to have her deported.

"The defendant made threats that this is not the kind of business that you can quit and something terrible would happen to the victims or their families," said Assistant State's Attorney Louis Longhitano to the Tribune. Longhitano says clients were charged up to $100 a customer and paid more for sex with the teen.

Montero pleaded guilty to placing ads for "VIP fantasies" in Spanish-language newspaper Hoy, scheduling clients, and threatening workers. She was sentenced on one count of involuntary sexual servitude of a minor.

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