Vance police charged a man and woman this week with illegal immigrant trafficking and extortion and said a larger operation could still exist in the area.

According to affidavits filed in Tuscaloosa County earlier this week, police accuse Alex Francisco Ramirez, 41, of bringing at least two men to the United States from Guatemala in 2021 and 2022.

Ramirez allegedly gave the men a fraudulent ID, secured them a job at a lumber factory in Vance, and “forced them to cash his paycheck every week at the El Sabor Latina store in Vance, Alabama, under penalty of expulsion”.

Police said Ramirez confiscated the men’s passports, ID cards and birth certificates and demanded they pay in cash every week from their factory’s earnings. From 2011 to May 2024, the men paid Ramirez more than $17,000, according to the deposition.

A third deposition accuses Yeni Adali Sabaria Reyes of having direct knowledge of the project: she is married to Ramirez.

Ramirez was charged with two counts of second-degree trafficking, court records so far show only one identical charge filed against Reyes.

According to a Facebook post from the Vance Police Department, there may be more victims of this scheme or similar schemes, and “other people are suspected to be involved in this operation.”

Both posted bond on the trafficking charges at $5,000 per count.

Stay tuned to the Tuscaloosa thread for updates, if any.