Highland Park woman arrested after forcing immigrants to hand over money earned and locking up their food, authorities say

A Highland Park woman has been charged with human trafficking for exploiting four immigrants by such means as taking their work earnings, keeping their food under lock and key, bathing a toddler in cold water to control his sleeping habits and sending threatening messages to relatives in Mexico, according to Lake County authorities.

Gladys Ibanez Olea, 34, of the 500 block of Onwentsia Avenue, was charged with eight counts of human trafficking, prosecutors said.

Authorities said Olea arranged in July 2023 for the illegal immigration of a 19-year-old woman and her 2-year-old son, along with a 22-year-old woman and her brother, 15, and then took advantage of them.

Prosecutors said Olea promised housing, safety and jobs, but instead took possession of the immigrants’ money, identification and more. The adults were forced into jobs to pay off their “debt” to Olea, authorities said. She allegedly created a fake ID for the 15-year-old so he could get a job.

Olea forced the immigrants to give her the money they earned, prosecutors say. She also padlocked the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets in her home to control when and what the immigrants ate, police said.

She gave the toddler cold baths during the day to keep him up so he would sleep better at night, authorities said. Olea also allegedly told the group that their families would be killed in Mexico if they did not comply.

Highland Park police got a tip about the situation and brought in the Lake County sheriff’s office special investigations group.

Last week, police searched Olea’s residence. She was charged Tuesday with human trafficking and involuntary servitude.

There is a higher risk of human trafficking for immigrants who are fleeing desperate situations, said Jessica Darrow, professor at University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice.

This coupled with an immigration system in the United States that makes it hard for people to seek legal pathways to citizenship may leave people vulnerable, Darrow said.

“To find out that some migrants have been exploited in this way, is unfortunately not shocking, because there’s so much room in this system for exploitation,” she said. “People may very well take risks they’re not clear about. … They might be willing to put themselves in some form of indentureship.”

Lake County prosecutors have filed a petition to detain Olea in jail as her case moves forward. In the petition, authorities said the immigrants were brought into the U.S. by a process set up by Olea, and they were brought to a Taco Bell in Highland Park in July where they met Olea, and she brought them to the Onwentsia Avenue residence.

Olea found work for the two women and the teen boy. Olea told one of them, the mother to the small child, that the woman was under surveillance at her job, according to the petition. Olea was able to accurately recount things that had happened to the woman that day, the document said.

“(The woman) tried at different times to keep some of the money she earned. Each time, (Olea) found out and demanded the money,” according to the file.

“(Olea) said ‘you know who we are; we are not playing,’” the document said.

The woman’s mother received threatening messages in Mexico via an app, prosecutors said, asking for money to pay for the daughter’s crossing.

“When you least expect it, all of you will disappear,” one message to the mother said, according to the petition.

The other woman who was victimized said her mother also received threatening messages.

During the search of the home last week police said they recovered a ledger with names and amounts owed in a black bag in Olea’s closet, according to the petition.

Lake County sheriff’s office spokesman Chris Covelli said the tip origin for this case speaks volumes about the relationship that the Highland Park police have with their community.

“There was an individual in the community who just felt something wasn’t right at this house with the comings and goings of the people inside and felt there could be human trafficking involved,” Covelli said. “The Highland Park police conducted a cursory investigation and found enough information to merit and corroborate what the tipster had indicated.”

The sheriff’s office is working with federal partners to help the four victims through the legal process. Covelli said the office is doing everything possible to get the legal remedies for the victims for the criminal investigation and also in regards to their rights as victims, but not U.S. citizens.

“They are victims through and through,” Covelli said. “They came here under very false pretenses with a desire to be able to live the American Dream. … They were completely misled by the offender, by their trafficker.”

Darrow said the young women and children are likely entitled to protection under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.

“In fact, because they’re trafficked, they actually have a right to stay,” she said. “But unless you know your rights, it’s very hard to access them.”

Human trafficking is on the uptick across the country, according to Covelli. The crime is not uncommon, but extremely underreported, he added.

Over the last several years, Lake County’s special investigations group has rescued nearly a dozen victims of human trafficking, both involuntary servitude and also sexual human trafficking, Covelli said.

“Our office is dedicated to finding, prosecuting, and incarcerating those who would use others for their own financial gain.” State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a news release.

Jed Stone, the attorney representing Olea, said Wednesday that his client is innocent.

“I believe that all the evidence that the sheriff’s deputies have comes from the mouth of a 19-year-old girl who is in this country without documentation and is looking for a (specialized visa for crime victims),” Stone said. “She is not a victim of crime.”

Stone said he has spoken with other residents at the home, and none can verify the woman’s story.

The immigrants will need to take time to heal, Darrow said.

“I think that being under the control of somebody else, having someone else control the well-being of yourself and your child, I’m imagining that’s scary for anybody,” she said.