Human trafficking ring broken up

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police have broken up what they are calling a significant human trafficking ring.

It actually involved a group of cases, but took months to connect.

Ismael Alvarez, a suspect in the case, is currently charged with three counts of aggravated kidnapping, but he is not the only suspect.

It all began in September 2008, when three illegal immigrants made the journey to the United States from Mexico.

Members of Austin Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit believe the people who were supposed protect Ernesto Sanchez, Juan Pablo and his brother Norberto, became their captors.

Police first got word of the ring when a man was found naked and beaten in a truck along FM 973.

Then detectives were notified of another victim in a local hospital in the same month.

Then in March 2009, another man jumped from a second-story apartment balcony in the 1900 of Hearthstone Drive.

He was able to escape and someone nearby called the police. Eventually detectives discovered the two cases were connected.

Luis Adrian Alegria was recently identified as one of the suspects and arrested. He is accused of abusing the three men by beating, torturing and threatening to kill them for money. Alegria is in federal custody for trafficking.

"These guys may be responsible for a lot more than we know," said Lt. Jerry Gonzalez, with the Austin Police Department. "In my opinion this is a significant arrest. You got three individuals collaborating together. Just those two cases that we came across in September '08 and March of this year. I can just imagine how many other people were brought in through the ring."

Police are still looking for Tereso Lopez-Leon, the third suspect in this case.