The three co-defendants in the alleged Tootsys sex-trafficking conspiracy pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Wednesday morning in federal court on St. Thomas. U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Alan Teague set a July 13 trial date.
The trio — Hussein Jamil, Magda Castro Santos, and Julio Hidalgo de Pena — remain jailed while the court considers the conditions of their release. Castro Santos and Hidalgo de Pena have been granted bail but have yet to be released while a suitable third-party custodian is found for Hidalgo de Pena, and because Castro Santos’ wife is one of the alleged victims and they share an apartment with both their names on the lease, according to court documents and Wednesday’s proceedings. That presents a problem because under her bail conditions, Castro Santos may not have contact with any of the victims or anyone who worked at Tootsys, a strip club in Red Hook that Jamil owned and operated.
VIPD agents raided the club and a Bolongo Bay residence where the dancers were allegedly housed on April 17. Jamil, Castro Santos and Hidalgo de Pena are charged with conspiracy to transport for the purpose of prostitution, conspiracy to commit interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises, and conspiracy to harbor aliens for financial gain — punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jamil, portrayed as the ringleader of the alleged operation in a 15-page indictment handed down May 13, was initially denied bond but his attorneys filed a motion for the reconsideration of his detention on Monday, noting that his brother and sister-in-law are willing to be third-party custodians and have him live at their home while he awaits trial. The government has 14 days to respond to that proposal.
As for Hidalgo de Pena, his attorney said a suitable third-party custodian may have been found and asked that he remain in custody on St. Thomas and not be transferred elsewhere until the matter can be settled with the court and pretrial services. After conferring with a U.S. Marshal, Teague said that while “nothing can be assured,” the officer indicated Hidalgo de Pena can be held on island “at least for a little while.”
According to the indictment, which covers a period from June 2019 to 2026, Jamil owned and operated Tootsys, Hidalgo de Pena served as the driver for the dancers and otherwise assisted in operating the club, and Castro Santos, also known as Tatiana, was the manager. It said Jamil and Hidalgo de Pena both lived at Bolongo 25, the residence in Bolongo Bay, where the women Jamil recruited also lived.
The women, who hailed from the U.S. mainland, Latin America and Caribbean countries, were “encouraged, facilitated and pressured” to engage in commercial sex acts once they arrived on St. Thomas, and made to pay $100 to $200 a week to live at Bolongo 25, despite Jamil, also known as Tony, advertising free housing as part of working at Tootsys, according to the indictment.
Additionally, it alleges the dancers “had to pay a $40 to $60 ‘buy-in’ fee every night merely to be able to work at Tootsys,” and $500 for every night of work they missed, and other fees for arriving late to work. “Illegal alien dancers incurred additional debts to Jamil to the extent Jamil arranged or otherwise facilitated their smuggling transportation to the USVI,” including having sex with him, it said.
According to the indictment, a person identified as “Co-Conspirator 1” introduced “Jane Doe 4” to Jamil between June and August 2019 and had previously arranged for her to be smuggled from St. Martin to St. Thomas to work at the co-conspirator’s club. On more than one occasion, that person “loaned” the woman to Jamil and Tootsys so she could engage in commercial sex acts with the customers, with the two men splitting the money she earned, it said. Jamil subsequently used her to recruit other women, the indictment alleges.
Around September 2022, he used his American Express credit card to purchase a plane ticket for Jane Doe 5 to fly from the U.S. mainland to work at Tootsys and live at Bolongo 25, it said. It was there that she learned the Venezuelan women she worked with at the club had been brought to St. Thomas from the British Virgin Islands, it said. “When Jane Doe 5 refused to have sex with Jamil, Jamil demanded reimbursement for the airfare he had paid for her and suggested that Jane Doe 5 pay off her debt by engaging in commercial sex with Tootsys customers,” the indictment alleges.
That same month, Jamil used his credit card to purchase a plane ticket for Jane Doe 6 to fly from the mainland U.S. to St. Thomas, where she also resided at Bolongo 25. “While Jane Doe 6 worked at Tootsys, Castro Santos collected the dancers’ fees and constantly pressured the dancers to make money, while Hidalgo de Pena cleaned the club, worked as a runner, and drove the dancers back and forth between Bolongo 25 and Tootsys,” according to the indictment.
In another case, Jane Doe 9 was smuggled from the BVI to St. Thomas in August 2021 by entering St. John “at a place other than a designated port of entry,” it says. After she arrived on St. John, a co-conspirator “whose identity is unknown to the grand jury” transported her to the ferry terminal so she could take the boat to St. Thomas. Once there, Jamil charged her a “smuggling fee,” which she paid off by having sex with him three times, the indictment says.
While working at Tootsys, Castro Santos “pushed and pressured” Jane Doe 9 to engage in commercial sex acts with customers and “told her that she was not going to make money by just dancing and needed to take advantage of the fact that customer wanted her,” it says. She ultimately did so and was paid in cash because she was not a U.S. citizen, according to the indictment. She left for her homeland, but returned around November 2022, again through the BVI, and worked at Tootsys for eight to nine months while engaging in commercial sex acts, it says. To repay her “smuggling fee” she had sex with Jamil three times, it says.
The indictment, which details the ads posted on social media to recruit dancers, says that in December 2019 Jamil sent a message to an Instagram account pertaining to a self-described dancer from Australia, including a breakdown of pricing at Tootsys, such as for a “buyout” and the “champagne room.”
According to the indictment, the message stated: “Hi there I own a small gentleman’s club here on Saint Thomas US Virgin Islands we are always looking for beautiful dancers I saw your Instagram you are very beautiful I will love to have you dance at my club The club will pay for your airfare to the island provide you with housing and transportation to and from work Saint Thomas is a tropical island so it’s very Sunny all year round you can vacation during the day on the beach swim jet ski scuba dive pictures whatever you like work at night work is from 8:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. Lap dances are $30 pro son 20 to the dance 10 to the club champagne Room is $500 half an hour $300 to the dancer $200 to the club and a buyout if a customer wanna buy you out and you want to go it’s a $1000 500 to dancer 500 to club all tips on stage of course are yours tip out is $60 that covers house club and transportation.”
While Jane Doe 8 worked at Tootsys, Jamil and Castro Santos controlled payments from customers who used the Chandelier Room and required customers to provide ID to “buy out” a dancer, which Castro Santos photographed to send to Jamil, because his permission was required for such transactions, according to the indictment.
On one occasion, Castro Santos deducted money from Jane Doe 8’s cut of a stint in the Chandelier Room because she refused to have sex with a customer and was made to return his money because he had paid for her to engage in sex acts, its says.
“The defendants established and maintained a group chat on WhatsApp to communicate with dancers and other employees of Tootsys regarding the rules and activities of their unlawful commercial sex enterprise,” according to the indictment. They also communicated via their cell phones when customers wanted to take dancers off site, and wrote checks to Tootsys’ corporate bank account for Hidalgo de Pena to cash and pay the “illegal alien workers.”
During an undercover operation in January conducted by law enforcement, Castro Santos processed a $575 credit card transaction for the officer to take Jane Doe 11 off site to a hotel, according to the indictment, which says the woman was paid $1,000 in cash directly prior to leaving the club with the officer.
“Castro Santos then arranged for a taxi for the undercover officer and Jane Doe 11 to go to a hotel in St. Thomas. Upon arriving at the hotel room and while the undercover officer was in the bathroom, Jane Doe 11 removed some of her clothing, leaving only a bikini-style bottom. The undercover officer immediately asked Jane Doe 11 to stop undressing, which she did. Jane Doe 11 asked the undercover officer if he did not want to continue, and he said he did not.”
Jamil, Castro Santos and Hidalgo de Pena were subsequently arrested in the raid on Tootsys and Bolongo 25 on April 18.
A pretrial conference is set for June 24 at 9:30 a.m., with the jury trial currently scheduled for 9 a.m. July 13 before Chief Judge Robert A. Molloy in Courtroom 1.
