MILLCREEK, Utah — A husband and wife were arrested Thursday on suspicion of human trafficking after they allegedly facilitated their nieces' immigration to Utah from Guatemala, then gave them jobs but withheld their pay.
The Utah Attorney General's Office investigated Luis Fernando Mendez-Portillo and his wife after the two Guatemalan women reported the alleged mistreatment to law enforcement.
The two women said Mendez-Portillo, 50, is their uncle, and they told him they wanted to come to the United States to work and send money back home to their families. They said Mendez-Portillo told them he knew "coyotes" who could help get them across the border, but they needed to take out loans to pay him for coordinating their immigration. They did so and arrived in Utah in November 2022, where they stayed at their uncle's home in Millcreek.
Mendez-Portillo's wife, 44-year-old Lesbia Lisseth Figueroa Gallardo, gave the two women jobs at a local Taco Bell where she was the general manager. Court documents say they also worked at a KFC where Mendez-Portillo's son was a manager. However, they said their wages were put on a pay card that Mendez-Portillo controlled.
The women said they had to go through Mendez-Portillo and Gallardo if they needed to purchase anything. They asked to buy phones, but the couple refused to allow this. The women said they were only allowed to call their families about once a week under the couple's supervision.
The women said Mendez-Portillo told them they still owed him money from their immigration process, and they said he threatened to have them investigated by police or have something happen to their families back home if they left or did not pay him back. They both eventually "fled" from the couple's home and now live elsewhere, court documents state.
Investigators said they reviewed wage reports and discovered $23,000 in earnings between the two Guatemalan women, filed under Social Security numbers that did not belong to them.
A search warrant for the suspects' home was executed, and investigators said they found the two women's Guatemalan passports, identification cards and pay cards. They also found Social Security cards and U.S. Permanent Resident cards under the women's names, which they determined were fraudulent.
Both Gallardo and Mendez-Portillo were arrested on suspicion of felony aggravated human trafficking and multiple forgery-related felonies. They were both ordered by a judge to be held without bail.
The arrest report states that the women both also claimed Mendez-Portillo sexually assaulted them. Authorities said these allegations are under investigation, but he is not facing any such charges at this time.
