Tuesday, September 18, 2012 // Issue 13, Volume 78 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
THE DAILY COUGAR
T H E
O F F I C I A L
S T U D E N T
N E W S P A P E R
O F T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
H O U S T O N
Student held at gunpoint Amanda Hilow Assistant managing editor
An unnamed student reported to the UH Department of Public Safety at approximately 2 p.m. Sunday that he was robbed at gunpoint while walking down Holman Street near Scott Street. The student said two unidentified black males between the ages of 20 and 30 drove up to him in a dark four-door car with a black semi-automatic handgun displayed from the driver-side window and demanded the student’s property. “He handled it the best he could,” said UHDPS Chief of Staff Lt. Bret Collier. “He gave the men his wallet and his cellphone.” The student was not injured,
and the suspects fl ed eastbound o n Ho l m a n t ow a r d C u l l e n Boulevard. “We have a couple leads. Unfortunately, I can’t give away any specifics, but we’re making good headway,” Collier said. Collier also reported that there is no indication the aggravation is part of a series of robberies, but seems to be a stand-alone event. Collier says there are precautions students can take to remain safe at night on campus. “You should always walk in groups and be aware of your surroundings,” Collier said. “In the event of property being demanded from you, you should turn over your property, take in as many details as possible, get out of
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OPINION
Global protests flaring up LIFE+ARTS The UH Department of Public Safety is located on the corner of Scott Street and Wheeler Avenue. | Hannah Laamoumi/The Daily Cougar
the area immediately and call the police as soon as you can. There is no wallet or cell phone more
expensive than your life.” news@thedailycougar.com
SOCIAL ISSUES
Professor provides insight on human trafficking
Xbox game scores SPORTS
Christopher Shelton Assistant sports editor
Reuben Perez, an assistant U.S. district attorney, was on the way to a wedding with his wife when news broke in the “Bar Belles” case. Maximino Mondragon and his coconspirators were being investigated for servitude, trafficking and alien smuggling by the Department of Justice and several other agencies in a joint task force. The DOJ was on track to file charges within two months. But the plan changed, and Perez never made it to the wedding. Mondragon, who operated El Potrero De Chimino Bar and others, had purchased a one-way ticket to El Salvador. When he was arrested on Nov. 13, 2005, he had blueprints in his possession, which were for a new hotel he hoped to open in El Salvador. According to Perez, 120 women were freed after his arrest. Mondragon operated through fear and coercion, like most involved in the smuggling and servitude element of human trafficking, said Ed Gallagher, assistant U.S. district attorney. “It’s a renewable resource; it’s not like drugs. You move the drugs one time, and the drugs are consumed and that’s it. With a human being, you can repeatedly exploit
Volleyball sets scale GET SOME DAILY
thedailycougar.com
ONLINE XTRA Take the poll: Will the Cougars win next week against Rice? The Houston Rescue & Restore Coalition held the third annual “Big Dipper Dash” on Sept. 7 in Tom Bass Park. The foundation aims to raise awareness about modern-day slavery in Houston. | Wanjun Zhang/The Daily Cougar (him or her),” Gallagher said. Mondragon and his co-conspirators allegedly lured women from Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras by promising a legitimate job. They would arrange for the women to be smuggled and levy a fee ranging between $6,000 to $12,500 and extend the debt by loaning necessities like housing, food, clothing, transportation
and money to be sent home to families. The women were compelled through threats to submit to prostitution, according to court documents. Mondragon was sentenced to 13 years in prison and was ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution, according to court documents. The majority of that money is unlikely to be received because most of
what Mondragon and his associates owned were little resellable properties in the U.S., Perez said. Gallagher, also an adjunct UH professor, who taught a human trafficking course over the summer, said most people involved in the immigration and forced labor industry were part of a family SLAVERY continues on page 3
TOMORROW Roundtable with Renu Khator
COUNTDOWN
4
Days until the autumnal equinox.
Oh boy, we almost have the chills...