A federal grand jury has indicted 11 Venezuelan and Colombian illegal aliens, including six living in Ohio, on charges involving the alleged sex trafficking of a minor and an adult, drug trafficking and firearms offenses.
Court records show three of the Ohio defendants lived in Hilliard, and three lived in Columbus.
The 30-count indictment was returned June 11 and unsealed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Federal authorities announced that 10 defendants were arrested in Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida, while one defendant remains at large.
According to the indictment, four defendants allegedly conspired between July and August 2025 to sex traffic both a minor between the ages of 14 and 18 and an adult victim. Prosecutors allege members of the conspiracy traveled across state lines to promote prostitution and created online advertisements for commercial sex activity in central Ohio.
Prosecutors also allege several defendants participated in an MDMA trafficking conspiracy between May 2025 and April 2026.
The indictment further alleges that several defendants unlawfully possessed firearms while illegally present in the United States and trafficked at least nine firearms.
Six of the defendants were living in Ohio at the time of the alleged offenses.
Those defendants include Jean Pierre Alejandro Guillen Salcedo, 30, Briyi Daniela Ordonez-Iter, 21, and Taidin Adreina Ferrer Guillen, 34, all of Hilliard.
Also charged are Columbus residents Pedro Angel Colls-Flores, 34, Julian David Patino Pena, 33, and Alismar Daniela Contreras-Arevalo, 20.
The remaining defendants are Keivar Elian Guillen Salcedo, 26, of Charlotte, North Carolina; Dervin Alejandro Colmenares Quintero, 29, a Venezuelan national listed in court records as residing in Mexico; John Alexandre Fajardo-Ulzcategui, 27, and Jose Ruben Sanchez-Pena, 34, both of Smyrna, Tennessee; and Therry Brayant Leon Gavida, 34, of Jacksonville, Florida.
“These defendants, ten of whom are currently illegally present in this country, allegedly engaged in a panoply of illicit trafficking activity, from drugs to firearms to human beings,” U.S. Attorney Dominick Gerace II said in a statement. “We have no tolerance for anybody who commits such crimes in our communities and we will prosecute them to [the] fullest extent of the law.”
Federal grand jury indicts 11 Venezuelan & Colombian illegal aliens for sex, drug, firearm traffickinghttps://t.co/Y7w7FqzZsV pic.twitter.com/a4KFj02bwI
— US Attorney Southern District of Ohio (@SDOHnews) June 30, 2026
FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Jason Cromartie said the investigation reflects cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
“We will continue to work hard to keep Ohio safe and get narcotics, firearms, and violent criminals off the streets,” Cromartie said in a release.
The case grew out of an investigation by the Homeland Security Task Force, which brings together federal, state and local agencies to investigate transnational criminal organizations, human trafficking networks and related crimes.
According to the Justice Department, the task force was established under Executive Order 14159, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” and focuses on investigating transnational criminal organizations, human trafficking networks and other cross-border criminal activity.
