Five members of a family-run sex trafficking operation smuggled young Mexican women and girls to New York City and forced them into prostitution. Several girls were 14 years old. Last week, all five received prison sentences of 20 to 39 years for sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking of minors, interstate prostitution, alien smuggling, and money laundering conspiracy, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). A sixth co-defendant is awaiting sentencing. The original complaint, filed on July 11, 2017, by a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officer, said the investigation into the Melendez-Rojas family was opened in 2014. “Jane Doe 1” met Francisco Melendez-Perez in Tecamachalco, Mexico, and moved in with him two weeks later, at age 14. In July 2010, Melendez-Perez told her they were moving to the United States for work and he hired smugglers to take them, as well as his aunt. Arizona Border Patrol agents apprehended …