Florida AG joins Lake officials in denouncing sex trafficking, undocumented immigrants

Yahoo

2 days ago

In a speech condemning a Lake County man found guilty of sex trafficking a minor, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier warned undocumented immigrants that the state 'will search every inch of this state to find you.'
Uthmeier, the chair of the state's 15-member statewide council on human trafficking, was in Eustis Tuesday along with State Attorney Bill Gladson and Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri to announce the sentencing of Jose Gomez, 31, of Eustis, to life in prison.
Gomez, who was originally born in Guatemala, was living in the U.S. with a visa that expired about four years ago, according to police officials.
Uthmeier called traffickers 'monsters' and said the state won't hesitate to seek the death penalty.
In July 2024, a young woman — whose age is unknown, but determined to be over 12 and under 16 — called 911 but then hung up. Upon arrival, Eustis Police Department officers found a distraught young woman who said a man, later identified as Gomez, was trying to shoot her.
She said she met Gomez at a market, then via Google Translate agreed to go back to his apartment with him, where Gomez began to use methamphetamine. The woman declined the drug, but drank a glass of water given to her by Gomez when she began to feel 'off,' according to court records.
In a police interview, the young woman said Gomez raped her and tried to pull a firearm out on her before she escaped.
Gomez was later charged with sexual battery, false imprisonment and resisting violence without arrest, but when Eustis police officials found out the woman was underage, the sexual battery charge was changed to lewd and lascivious battery upon a child and human trafficking.
At the press conference, both the state attorney and police chief shared Uthmeier's rhetoric on undocumented immigrants, the subject of increased detentions across the state and country since President Donald Trump returned to office in January.
'You're not going to find yourself just deported on a plane back to some other country,' Gladson said of undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes such as trafficking. 'There are worse things than getting deported.'
Uthmeier, who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year, praised the Trump Administration's efforts to enact 287(g) memorandums, allowing local police departments and officials to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
'We're doing raids up and down the state and the reality is you don't know which of these people is going to be that monster. It's not just a little old lady on her way to church — that's what the left wants you to think,' Uthmeier said.
However, fewer than 1 in 5 of Central Florida's ICE detainees so far this year were charged with felonies, according to data obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, ranging from 11.5% in Lake to 18.6% in Orange.