A 65-year-old Mission resident faces up to life in prison after admitting in federal court to forcing a teen migrant into sex work at her business, according to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.

Rita Martinez compelled the 16-year-old victim from Mexico to engage in commercial sex work in a cantina she owned and operated in Mission known as Rita’s Sports Bar.

“Using her cantina as a front, Rita Martinez forced a young migrant girl into sexual acts with Rita’s male patrons,” a Friday news release stated. 

As part of her guilty plea of sex trafficking of children, Martinez confessed to arranging for the male patrons of her cantina to have sex with the teen from the spring of 2005 to the fall of 2006.

The victim lived in Martinez’s home. The business owner accepted money from the patrons and applied it to the cost of the minor victim’s fee for the transportation from Mexico into the United States.   

On January 2023, Martinez’s 41-year-old son — Genaro Fuentes — admitted to his role in working at the bar and helping to facilitate the commercial sex.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced in September, while Fuentes will be sentenced on July 6, 2023.

Martinez faces up to life in prison, while Fuentes could receive up to 20 years in prison. Both remain in custody pending their sentencing.