Jacksonville woman indicted on smuggling, sex trafficking charges

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville woman was indicted for labor and sex trafficking, along with alien smuggling Wednesday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Esthela Clark, 46, persuaded a young woman from Mexico to travel to the United States under the fake pretense that she could become a surrogate mother.

After Clark smuggled the woman into the United States, Clark began inseminating the woman with the semen from her boyfriend and other people, the indictment said.

The inseminations were not medical procedures. Clark used a household syringe on the dining room floor of her house, according to the indictment.

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The indictment said that when the woman did not get pregnant, Clark used threats of force to make the woman have sex with two strangers.

Clark reportedly isolated the woman in forced labor and involuntary servitude for two years and kept her official identification forms.

Two vehicles that were allegedly used in the offenses will be forfeited, according to the indictment.

Clark faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

WJAX