A 17-year-old girl from Honduras was discovered last month being held captive in a San Leandro residence in an apparent human trafficking case, according to reporting by The Mercury News.
A couple was arrested in early October for reportedly smuggling the teenager, referred to in court records as "Jane Doe" into the country. The girl had been sexually assaulted and kept locked in their backyard shed for five months.
Juan Aguilar, 41, first encountered the girl while in Honduras in January of this year. He threatened her with a gun, sexually assaulted her several times, telling her he would kill her grandmother if she reported him, according to the paper.
She was then abducted by Aguilar, taken to Guatemala, and sold to a human trafficker. She was smuggled into the United States via Texas, and was then taken to Aguilar’s home in San Leandro which he shared with his wife, Margaret Wilson, 39, the paper reported.
The two were also grooming the teenager to become a sex worker in San Francisco.
But after the teenager connected with Aguilar’s niece and explained the situation, the niece went with her mother to authorities in San Francisco and filed a police report.
The couple are facing charges of kidnapping to commit a sex crime, human trafficking of a minor, forcible rape, and forcible oral copulation.
Both have pled not guilty and are being held in Santa Rita Jail without bail.
A pretrial hearing has been set for Nov. 30.
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