A Hispanic couple are headed to prison after pleading guilty to keeping a young niece in the United States illegally as a sex slave

Inez Martinez Garcia, 44, has been sentenced to a 20-year prison term. Her husband, Marcial Garcia Hernandez, 45, was given a 23-years-to-life sentence. Both pleaded guilty to multiple counts of abuse. The Latino couple coerced a relative in Mexico to send their niece to the United States illegally to live with them at their home. The couple promised that they would look after the girl, then 12, and make sure that she went to school. Instead, they forced the girl to have sex with Hernandez and other men for money. When she wasn't being sexually assaulted, they forced her to cook, clean and care for their own three children. She was held captive for 18 months. When the girl refused she was beaten and forced to eat hot peppers. The girl returned to Mexico after police freed her but returned to San Diego County to assist in the prosecution.