Alexander Villatoro Moreno, a 53-year-old Mexican national also known as Quichi, pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 in federal court in Tampa, Florida, to conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The case involved the exploitation of Mexican H-2A workers who were brought to the United States between 2015 and 2017 to harvest fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products.
The case highlights ongoing concerns about labor trafficking and abuse within the agricultural sector. Prosecutors said that Villatoro Moreno and his co-defendants operated Los Villatoros Harvesting (LVH), a farm labor contracting company that functioned as a criminal enterprise compelling victims to work across several states including Florida, Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, and North Carolina.
According to court documents, Villatoro Moreno and others fraudulently recruited Mexican nationals using short-term H-2A visas by misleading U.S. authorities to secure these visas for their victims. Workers were charged high recruitment fees and deceived about pay rates, working hours, conditions, and reimbursement for expenses. Once in the United States, they were forced into long hours of physically demanding labor for less than legally required wages.
The defendants used various coercive tactics such as imposing debts on workers, confiscating passports, subjecting them to poor living conditions, verbal abuse, threats of arrest or deportation, isolation from outsiders except LVH employees, and threats against family members in Mexico if demands were not met. When authorities began investigating the operation, Villatoro Moreno helped prepare false payroll records and distributed fake receipts to conceal underpayments.
Villatoro Moreno’s four co-defendants previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme. His brother Bladimir Moreno was sentenced in 2022 to over nine years in prison with restitution ordered for victims; other supervisors received sentences ranging from home detention with fines to more than three years’ imprisonment.
Multiple agencies participated in investigating the case including the Palm Beach County Human Trafficking Task Force—comprising federal law enforcement agencies—and received support from legal aid organizations as well as assistance from Mexican authorities during extradition proceedings. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs coordinated with partners in Mexico for Villatoro Moreno’s arrest and extradition.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilyssa Spergel for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Matthew Thiman are prosecuting the case alongside former Trial Attorney Maryan Zhuravitsky. Authorities encourage anyone with information about human trafficking to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org.
