A woman who pleaded guilty to running a human trafficking operation in Lake County has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago announced.
Gladys Ibanez-Olea helped smuggle people to the Highland Park area and then exploited them, forcing them to turn over their wages to her, authorities said.
The reputed Juarez cartel member pleaded guilty to federal charges in February. She was sentenced last week to prison by U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman.
“[D]efendant used her role as a recruiter in the cartel to create a cadre of indentured servants whose entire salaries belonged to defendant,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Zenner argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.
“She took advantage of extremely vulnerable victims — women and children who were desperate to come to America and found themselves trapped in a cycle of debt, threats and mistreatment,” Zenner said.
Authorities alleged that people were kept as virtual prisoners in Ibanez-Olea’s Highland Park residence. She forced them to work and then kept their wages to pay off debts they allegedly owed to her, according to prosecutors.
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She was originally charged in Lake County, but those charges were dropped in favor of the federal prosecution.