Two arrested on Wednesday following an investigation into a human smuggling and child labor trafficking operation at a Smithville market and restaurant.
18-year-old Joshua Hernandez-Morales has been charged with a count of Trafficking for Forced Labor or Services. 52-year-old Marcelino Diaz-Decena has been charged with a count of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon.
According to DeKalb County Sheriff Patrick Ray and Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins, the investigation revealed four minor children were brought across the border by Mexican Drug Cartel smugglers. They were taken to Arizona before being sent to the Upper Cumberland, where they were forced to work at the restaurant to pay for the cost of their being smuggled here and for their housing.
One of the children was a female, staying at a residence with adults on Bright Hill Road. The other three, males, were found alone at a home on West Broad Street without adult supervision.
Law enforcement first learned about the human-trafficking operation when one of the children came to the Smithville Police Department after running away.
The three-month investigation was conducted jointly by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, the Smithville Police Department, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Human Trafficking Division. Ray and Collins said more arrests are to come.
