DONNA – Federal agents are searching for two Donna residents they said were a part of a human trafficking ring.

Prosecutors said they helped operate stash houses serving as staging areas for illegal brothels in Houston.

Investigators are searching for 43-year-old Israel Juarez Sifuentes and 50-year-old Melissa Dominguez.

According to the indictment, the pair belonged to the Southwest Cholos Gang, who owned and operated several brothels and apartments throughout Houston and Mexico.

People in the country illegally were allegedly promised they could work in a restaurant to pay off their smuggling debts.

Yet after arriving in Houston, victims were told they actually had to work as prostitutes in brothels the alleged gang members controlled.

The indictment alleges the defendants engaged in numerous acts and threats of violence against the victims and their families whenever the women refused to work as prostitutes or failed to make enough money.

Victims who have escaped from the brothels said many of the women working were transported through stash houses in the Rio Grande Valley.

The suspects also brought drugs and some weapons through the stash houses.

If convicted of sex trafficking, the two face up to life in prison.