Juven Pineda Charged in $13,500 Debt-Tied Trafficking and Rape Case in Kenner
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 16
Juven Pineda Charged in $13,500 Debt-Tied Trafficking and Rape Case in Kenner
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 16
Summary
Kenner police booked Juven Pineda, 34, on 5 June after extraditing him from North Carolina on three second-degree rape counts and one human trafficking count; he was ordered held without bond on 10 June.
Investigators say Pineda told a 16-year-old Honduran girl in 2019 that she and her father owed him $13,500 after he smuggled them into the US, then demanded she become his "woman" to repay it.
The girl told police that meant cleaning his house, living with him as a couple and being repeatedly raped in Kenner and later in North Carolina, where she said she was not free to leave.
A local paralegal's email to police helped launch the case, and investigators identified Pineda through interviews that began in October 2023 before obtaining an arrest warrant in March 2024.
Louisiana law allows 5 to 40 years for second-degree rape and 20 years for human trafficking, with possible sentence enhancements in some circumstances.