NJ Husband and Wife Sentenced For Sex Trafficking

A husband and wife from North Jersey have been sentenced for their roles in a sex trafficking scheme.

Federal authorities say last week, 58-year-old Enna Gonzalez of Paterson received four years in prison and five years of supervised release after previously pleading guilty to an indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.

Last month, her husband, 52-year-old Jean Noriega, also of Paterson, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and five years of supervised release.

Noriega previously pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and the sex trafficking of six different victims.

Officials say in 2016 and 2017, Noriega coerced multiple women to engage in commercial sex acts in New Jersey and New York.

Noriega used violence, threats of violence, threats of drug withdrawal, and other means, to compel the victims to engage in commercial sex for his profit, including after his incarceration in New York on unrelated charges in 2017.

Gonzalez helped Noriega control the victims and carried out Noriega’s sex trafficking activities while he was incarcerated.

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U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI’s Newark Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office with the investigation leading to the sentencings.