On August 9, the Franklin County District Attorney’s Office charged Abimael Garcia-Vilchiz, 35, with a felony count of involuntary servitude for allegedly luring a woman from New York and forcing her facilitate his sex trafficking operation. Judge Annie Gomez Shockey denied Garcia-Vilchiz bail because “[t]here is no condition that can make the public safe and ensure Defendant would appear in court.” His preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 22. Another man who was arrested on the same date and at the same address as Garcia-Vilchiz is being held on drug related charges. It is unclear whether the other man was involved in the alleged trafficking scheme.
The survivor purportedly told police she travelled to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania from Queens, New York under the assumption that she would be working for a restaurant. After being picked up by an Uber 90 minutes from Chambersburg, she was instead brought to a home on North Third Street—reportedly owned by Garcia-Vilchiz—where she alleges she was forced to help “operate a house of prostitution.” It is unclear whether Garcia-Vilchiz trafficked the survivor herself. She was able to contact the police on August 9 after locating and disabling cameras in the North Third Street home.
According to the Chambersburg Police Department, the woman told police she had not been paid in two months and was under continuous surveillance to ensure she couldn’t leave the house. She also reported that she was threatened that a man going by the name of “Jorge,” later determined to be Garcia-Vilchiz, would harm her family in New York if she didn’t do as she was told. She was so concerned with the safety of her family that she hadn’t eaten in a week.
Garcia-Vilchiz is alleged to have been in charge of the operations in the house. According to investigators, he owned the home, controlled payments from sex buyers, arranged meetings with sex buyers, and delivered supplies. When police executed a search warrant at the North Third Street home, they found condoms, tally ledgers, and U.S. currency seeming to indicate that the home was being used for prostitution.
As stated previously, the Franklin County District Attorney’s Office charged Garcia-Vilchiz with only one crime – involuntary servitude, § 3012 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code. It is the CSE Institute’s opinion that Garcia-Vilchiz also meets the criteria to be charged with trafficking in individuals. § 3011 defines human trafficking as a crime that occurs when an individual carries out an enumerated act—including enticing, harboring, transporting, or maintaining—using the means of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual or labor servitude.
Garcia-Vilchiz allegedly transported the survivor in this case to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania and harbored her in his home for at least two months, clearly meeting the act element for trafficking in individuals. As for the means requirement, he is alleged to have fraudulently enticed her into his home under the promise that she would be working for a restaurant. He also purportedly coerced her into staying by threatening to harm her family if she did not participate in his prostitution enterprise. Regarding the purpose element, it is unclear from the factual accounts of this case whether the survivor in this case was sexually exploited or if her role in the alleged scheme was forced labor, as only some news sources allege that she was forced to sell sex in addition to facilitating the sex trafficking operation.
Regardless of whether the survivor was sexually exploited, Garcia-Vilchiz acted with the means and purpose required under § 3011 and should be charged accordingly. The crime of trafficking in individuals applies to both sex trafficking and labor trafficking, which are distinguished by purpose – sexual servitude or labor servitude. If the survivor was forced to sell sex, Garcia-Vilchiz should be charged with sex trafficking under §3011(a)(1). On the other hand, if she was not forced to sell sex, Garcia-Vilchiz should be charged with labor trafficking under §3011(a)(3) because he nonetheless allegedly forced her to work without pay for at least two months. Although the crimes of sex trafficking and labor trafficking are located within the same statute, maintaining separation between the two and charging them appropriately is critically important. Equating commercial sexual exploitation with labor is harmful because it improperly legitimizes an industry sustained by gender-based violence and dismisses the inherently coercive nature of the sex trade.
The CSE Institute commends the Chambersburg PD and Franklin County DA’s Office for their work in apprehending and seeking to bring Garcia-Vilchiz to justice. We urge the Franklin County DA’s office to further investigate and reevaluate whether Garcia-Vilchiz ought to be charged for trafficking in individuals.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates on this matter.
All views expressed therein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.