Feds Allege Illegal Immigrant Slavery In Ventura County and other stories

Wednesday February 26, 2025

     The United States Attorney’s Office says a Ventura County couple has been arrested and charged by federal authorities for allegedly abusing asylum-seeking immigrants from Latin American countries by essentially turning them into slaves.

     It is alleged that 50-year-old Carolina Rojas and her husband, 45-year-old Jairo John Gastelo of Simi Valley, would provide the immigrants with documents in order to help them get them into the United States illegally.

     Prosecutors then accuse the couple with forcing the immigrants to do house work and childcare for free on a 24 hour basis.

     The couple is also accused with getting the immigrants false Social Security cards and other documents that would allow them to get jobs at outside businesses and then force them to hand over their pay from those jobs as a way of paying off the cost of bringing them into this country.

     Prosecutors say in one case the couple worked out a deal with a McDonald’s in Simi Valley to hire the immigrants and then take their earnings.

     If convicted of the charges against them, the couple could face decades in federal prison.

     For now they remain locked up pending future court appearances.

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     Deputies in Camarillo have been busy making sure businesses are not selling alcohol or tobacco products to under age customers.

     Last week they held minor decoy operations aimed at clerks and other adults who allowed juveniles to get those two kinds of products.

     On one day the minor decoys under the direct supervision of deputies went into stores and were sold alcohol products even though the clerks either knew they were under age or never checked.

     A 33-year-old male clerk at one market and a 31-year-old female clerk at another were both cited for doing that.

     On another day minor decoys under the supervision of deputies conducted what’s known as a shoulder tap operation where they approached an adult outside of the store and ask if they could buy tobacco products for them.

     In two cases that happened and in one case a juvenile outside the store was able to buy tobacco products for the minor decoy.

     A 56-year-old female from Camarillo and a 17-year-old female from Camarillo were cited along with a 26-year-old male clerk from Thousand Oaks.