A Russian woman pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to charges that she brought her teenage niece to the United States to force her to work as a prostitute.
Alena Okhotina, 35, of West Hollywood faces 18 to 21 months in prison under the terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors in the human trafficking case.
Investigators said Okhotina paid $6,000 in 2003 to obtain a fraudulent visitor's visa for her then 18-year-old niece.
Okhotina coerced her niece by telling her she would be arrested if she went to police because she had entered the United States illegally, according to the plea agreement. The niece worked as a prostitute in California and Las Vegas and Okhotina admits she kept the proceeds, officials said.
