A 34-year-old Louisiana man has been arrested and charged with repeatedly raping a teenager as a way to coerce payment of a debt he claimed her family owed him, according to law enforcement in Kenner.
Juven Pineda faces charges of second-degree rape and human trafficking. He was apprehended in North Carolina in April and transferred to Kenner police custody by early June, where a bail commissioner ordered him held without bond.
The girl, now older, told investigators that Pineda smuggled her into the United States from Honduras in May 2019 when she was 16 years old. Her father had arrived in the country months earlier with Pineda's help. After the girl was brought to a residence in New Orleans, she eventually moved into a home Pineda owned near the airport.
Once she was living there, Pineda informed her that she and her father owed him $13,500. He allegedly threatened violence against her family members still in Honduras if the debt went unpaid. The only way to settle it, he told her, was by becoming his "woman."
Court documents describe what that arrangement entailed: the girl would clean his house, live with him as though they were a couple, and submit to repeated sexual assault. She described herself to police as feeling trapped, likening her situation to being held as a prisoner with no freedom to leave.
In early 2020, Pineda relocated her to North Carolina, where the abuse continued. The girl remained under his control for years before eventually reporting what had happened to her. An attorney's office filed a report in late 2023 that prompted a police investigation, which led to Pineda's arrest warrant in March 2024.
Kenner police chief Keith Conley called the case a stark example of trafficking that operates in secrecy. "Human trafficking often occurs behind closed doors, and victims are frequently afraid to come forward," the department said in a statement. "If you see something, say something. Human trafficking thrives in silence."
Second-degree rape in Louisiana carries a sentence of five to 40 years. The human trafficking charge can result in 20 years imprisonment, though enhanced penalties may apply depending on circumstances.
Author James Rodriguez: "This case shows how traffickers use debt and threats as weapons to control victims, and why law enforcement urges the public to report suspected exploitation before years are lost to silence."
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