Man pleads guilty to racketeering in relation to RICO Act indictments
A Floyd judge accepted a guilty plea to a single racketeering charge Tuesday from Jose Jorge Sanchez, 41, of Roanoke. Judge Gerald Mabe then found Sanchez guilty.
Authorities have won their first racketeering conviction in a wide-ranging takedown of prostitution and drug ring that they say operated in Roanoke and nearby communities, including Floyd County.
A Floyd judge accepted a guilty plea to a single racketeering charge Tuesday from Jose Jorge Sanchez, 41, of Roanoke. Judge Gerald Mabe then found Sanchez guilty.
Eric Branscom, Floyd County’s commonwealth’s attorney, said Sanchez belonged to a five-person trafficking and drug enterprise that coerced women to perform sexual acts.
Four other defendants face trial in March.
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Law enforcement teams in Roanoke, Rockbridge County and Floyd County, and Virginia State Police joined efforts to file the case, which they have called the first or one of the first prosecutions against an organized criminal enterprise in the region.
The defendants could face prison terms of 20 years to life if convicted under the Virginia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.
Branscom said Sanchez “obtained” some or all of the women the group is accused of exploiting. Authorities don’t have evidence that acts of prostitution occurred in Floyd County but have evidence that group members brought controlled substances into the county. RICO statues target criminal conspiracies and enable authorities to charge all members of an alleged criminal enteprise for the actions of individual group members. It empowers law enforcement agencies to link crimes committed over a wide area and then prosecute the conspirators in any community touched by the enterprise.
The judge said he will sentence Sanchez at a later date. Sanchez was ordered to return to court Feb. 2 and released on an unsecured bond.
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