The six men recently arrested and charged following a 15-month investigation into prostitution at alleged brothels in Aurora, West Dundee, Rockford and South Elgin will be detained pretrial, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors in court also said that a fifth suspected brothel had been discovered in Hanover Park during the arrest operation, according to a news release Thursday from the state’s attorney’s office.
The investigation, led by the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office Human Exploitation Unit, in partnership with a number of local law enforcement agencies, culminated in an arrest operation on July 16, during which all six men were apprehended, officials said. The arrest operation was conducted across Kane, Cook, McHenry, Boone and Winnebago counties.
Three women were recovered during the operation and offered services and resources by victim advocates and medical personnel on site, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
The men allegedly controlled apartments used as brothels, collected and transferred proceeds, cleaned and maintained the apartments, installed home security cameras to facilitate the operation of the brothels and received up to $400 per week as compensation, the news release from the state’s attorney’s office said.
The charges further allege that some used fraudulent identification to obtain leases for apartments that were subsequently used as brothels.
Additionally, one alleged brothel in West Dundee was located less than 600 feet from an elementary school, while another alleged brothel in Rockford was also located near an elementary school, per the state’s attorney’s office.
The men now face charges including promoting prostitution for profit, promoting prostitution near a school and forgery, according to officials.
According to the state’s attorney’s office, the men who have been arrested and charged are Abisahit Del Angel Hernández, 40, of Woodstock; Gustavo A. Perez Cardoza, 35, of Aurora; Hugo F. Jaimes-Ramirez, 43, of Aurora; Kenneth E. Figueroa Castro, 29, of Belvidere; Delfino Torres-Navarro, 59, of Hanover Park; and Ricardo Hernandez Lux, 33, of Elgin.
Prosecutors argued that no conditions of release could mitigate the danger the men posed to the community, and Kane County Circuit Court Judge D.J. Tegeler ordered all six detained in the Kane County jail while their cases are pending, per the news release.
Perez Cardoza is next set to appear in court on July 30, while Jaimes-Ramirez is set to appear on Aug. 12, according to the news release from the state’s attorney’s office. Hernandez Lux is set to appear in court on Aug. 13, and Torres-Navarro on Aug. 19. Del Angel Hernandez and Figueroa Castro are both set to appear in court on Aug. 21, per the office.
In addition to the work by the state’s attorney’s office and numerous law enforcement agencies, additional partners included St Charles’ Baker Memorial United Methodist Church, the Community Crisis Center, the Kane County Health Department, Mutual Ground, Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Naomi’s House, One Collective and Refuge for Women, per the news release.
Elgin-based One Collective donated money for food for the women recovered from the brothels, and Chicken Salad Chick in Batavia also donated food, according to the state’s attorney’s office. Nurses from Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora, working through the Kane County Health Department, assisted the women, and Baker Memorial provided accommodations for one of the women, officials said.