By Jeremy Gorner, Rosemary Regina Sobol and Steve Schmadeke
Chicago Tribune reporters November 19, 2013
Chicago - A 26-year-old south suburban man became the first individual to face labor trafficking charges in Cook County after being charged with forcing his tenants to pay him money by using violent tactics like burning them with a heated butcher knife or sexually assaulting them with a power drill.
Roy Estivez, (pictured) of the 300 block of Campbell Avenue in south suburban Calumet City is charged with aggravated involuntary servitude, involuntary servitude, and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, according to Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. Daly said it was the first time their office ever approved charges of labor trafficking and there were two victims in this case.
In court today, Cook County prosecutors alleged Estivez preyed on mentally challenged men. Estivez threatened, tortured, and exploited the men, who are 22 and 23, after renting an apartment to them and then conning them into turning over their entire paychecks to him.
The alleged abuse came to light when one of men's bosses noticed injuries and the victim told him what happened, according to Assistant State's Attorney Mary Anna Planey. The men were forced to take second and third jobs and turn over all their money to Estivez, Planey said.
Judge James Brown ordered Estivez held on $500,000 bail.
Estivez burned the men's faces and bodies with a heated knife, beat them with an electrical cord and poured hydrogen peroxide in their wounds, according to Planey. He also sexually assaulted one of the men with a power drill.
Estivez warned the victims that he was mobbed up and had a police officer on his payroll, according to the prosecutor.
Estivez often denied them food, telling them to find something to eat at work, prosecutors said.
When one of the victims lost one of his jobs, Estivez began torturing both victims, while telling them they needed to get another job, the prosecutor said.
The victims were afraid to leave because Estivez threatened to kill them and harm their families.
Estivez's attorney said his client is married with two children and helps care for his 74-year-old grandmother.
On Oct. 20, one of the victim’s bosses observed visible injuries and the victim told him about the abuse, the prosecutor said.
The victim was taken to the hospital and was treated for burns. The victim never returned to the apartment, and Estivez tried to find him.
Estivez was arrested over the weekend after a man came to police telling them Estivez heated a butcher knife and had burned his body in order to get him to give money to Estivez, the landlord at his Southeast Side apartment and a friend since high school, according to a police report.
The victim paid him in cash but since August has been "short on money" so Estivez "burns him with his heated butcher knife on different parts of the body," the report said.
The man reported the incidents, which happened between August and October, to police after being treated at Franciscan St. Margaret Health in Hammond, Ind.
Estivez explained to the man that he needed money and if not, "he will get hurt," the report said.
The man told police that Estivez has keys to his apartment on South Baltimore Avenue in theSouth Chicago neighborhood and comes over whenever he wants, mostly at night, and also calls him and tells him to be there whenever Estivez wanted, the report said.
Authorities said the incident was initially reported to Chicago police as an aggravated battery but after further investigation, prosecutors approved the labor trafficking charges.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-crime-labo-trafficking-charge-20131119,0,5628892.storyCopyright © 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
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