An illegal immigrant mother in Wisconsin has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking her 12-year-old daughter, and is facing more than 52 years in prison.
Elia Antonio, 34, pleaded guilty to trafficking a child, failure to protect a child, and misdemeanor bail jumping, per Breitbart. She is set to be sentenced in August.
She was arrested in 2024 after her boyfriend, Juan Carlos Rocha Mejia, 32, paid Antonio over $250 to be alone with her young daughter. The girl told police that she had been asked to get into a van with her mother, who told her to get in the backseat before arriving at the boyfriend's house.
Police said that the girl's mother went into her boyfriend's home and that he then came out and got into the van. He drove to Oakfield, Wisconsin, where he got into the backseat with the girl and sexually assaulted her, per police reports.
Though she was bound and blindfolded, she was able to break free and bite her mother's boyfriend before running away. She was able to run to a nearby home, where a person called 911, per WTMJ.
Antonio also allegedly hid a phone in the van, through which she could hear her daughter screaming during the attack. She reportedly told authorities that she had attempted to locate her daughter, though she did not call 911 and had arranged the encounter herself, for pay.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said, "Today is a step towards justice for the survivor and holding the defendant accountable for her despicable actions involving her own child."
