Juven Pineda, 34, was arrested in North Carolina on April 24 and transferred to Louisiana earlier this month, where he faces charges of second-degree rape and human trafficking, according to Kenner police and jail records. A bail commissioner on June 10 ordered Pineda held without bond pending the outcome of the case.
According to a sworn statement from investigators, the case began when a local paralegal provided police with an email reporting that her law firm represented a client born in November 2002 who had been sexually trafficked from Honduras to Kenner through Mexico. Investigators said they quickly identified Pineda as the suspect.
The girl told investigators during interviews beginning in October 2023 that Pineda had helped smuggle her father into the U.S. before smuggling her in, ostensibly for free, when she was 16 in May 2019, according to police. Her father brought her to a home in New Orleans weeks later, police said. After a few months, she moved into a home Pineda had near New Orleans airport in Kenner.
It was there, police said, that Pineda informed her she was now responsible for a $13,500 debt that she and her father owed him. Pineda allegedly threatened to physically harm her family in Honduras if she did not settle the debt, according to police. The girl told investigators that Pineda said she could resolve the debt by becoming his “woman,” which she said meant cleaning his house, living with him as “a couple,” and being raped by him repeatedly.
Police said Pineda brought the teen to North Carolina at the beginning of 2020 and raped her there as well. The girl told investigators she felt like a “prisoner” and was not free to leave him.
Investigators obtained a warrant to arrest Pineda in March 2024, according to police. North Carolina’s highway patrol detained him on that warrant on April 24, and he was extradited to Kenner police custody by June 5, according to jail records. He has been booked with three counts of second-degree rape and one count of human trafficking.
Second-degree rape in Louisiana carries a potential sentence of five to 40 years in prison. Human trafficking carries up to 20 years, which can be enhanced under certain circumstances, according to state law.
Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said in a statement: “If you see something, say something. Human trafficking thrives in silence. A single phone call could help save a victim from exploitation and abuse.”
The department said Pineda’s arrest was “an important reminder that human trafficking often occurs behind closed doors, and victims are frequently afraid to come forward.”