A judge overseeing the case of three defendants accused of violating immigration laws to recruit exotic dancers for St. Thomas nightclub Tootsys took action to help a defendant being held behind bars.
The matter came up during a scheduled hearing for defendants Jamil Hussein, Julio Hidalgo de Pena and Magda Castro Santos. Defendants in the case are accused of conspiracy to aid a racketeering enterprise promoting illegal immigration and prostitution.
A trial date has been set for July 13, but an apparent miscommunication kept defendants from participating without Spanish interpreters being present. Instead, U.S. Magistrate G. Alan Teague said the session could serve to clear up some housekeeping matters.
At the top of the list was the eviction of defendants Hussein and de Pena from a property at 25 Bolongo Bay, where many of the dancers reside. Since his arrest on the charges, Hussein was granted pretrial release and is living with court-approved custodians, but his codefendant remains in custody.
Through his lawyer, de Pena asked permission of the court to return to his residence and remove his property, including the passport he was ordered to surrender to the court.
Teague said he agreed the defendant should be allowed to do so; the question before the court was how to make it happen.
Also on the housekeeping list, a pending motion from the U.S. Attorney’s Office to have the matter declared a complex case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha Baker reminded Teague that jury selection is still set for July 13.
If the judge grants the motion, prosecutors would have more time to discover, develop and present the elements of the case and would likely be granted more time to do so. Teague assured Baker that the motion was before him and that he would respond.
But the more immediate matter — retrieval of the passport and removal of de Pena’s property from 25 Bolongo — got the judge’s immediate attention. By Thursday afternoon, Teauge produced two orders, one for Hussein and the other for de Pena.
He ordered defense attorneys and prosecutors to meet no later than Friday, “and attempt to agree upon a means and protocol for which Defendant may retrieve his personal belongings from the property referred to as Bolongo 25.”
Lawyers were also ordered to advise the court no later than June 29 what solution they came up in their scheduled meeting.
