Church Pastor, Child Trafficker

Roger Rodriguez is an American author born in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Long Way to Mexico which won an International Latino Book Award (2022) and Silver Book Fest Award (2022). In 2008, he was featured in the Discovery Channel for his work The Grass Beneath His Feet: The Charles Victor Thompson Story which highlights the escape of death row inmate Charles Victor Thompson. Later, this work was translated into French, German, and Italian editions.

Rodriguez asserts that many of the human-trafficking stories in headlines, movies, and television cloud society’s understanding of the topic. His latest book hopes to change that by providing a sociological perspective that points to social characteristics of trafficking through the story of Elsa Cuellar. Starting in the early 1990s, it is believed that Cuellar engaged in the sex-trafficking of young girls and selling babies along the Texas-Mexico border. For 10 years, Rodriguez researched the allegations against Cuellar; he tracked down victims, interviewed investigators, and even gained access to part of the criminal underworld that Cuellar allegedly worked in, all to try to understand how she could allegedly commit these crimes for decades and still escape justice. Rodriguez is an engaging writer who weaves the often-incomplete stories and evidence into a compelling and frightening narrative of how one woman manipulated her victims and the legal system. This book will appeal to readers of true-crime stories, but it’s also ideal for those looking for a real-world example of what human trafficking looks like today.

• Foreword by John C. Kilburn Jr.Note to the Reader 1: Pastora Del Mal (Pastor of Evil) 2: Los Solanos de Laredo 3: A Ghostly Figure 4: Bidi: December 1998—Rio Bravo, Texas 5: The Creative Element 6: The Hidden Truth 7: A South Texas Ranch: June 1998 (15 Years before Cuellar’s Arrest)8: Angels in Her Path 9: The Adoption Defense 10: The Chance of a Lifetime 11: Evil Crossing 12: The Dilemma 13: The Older Man: Two Months Before the Arrest of Elsa Cuellar 14: El Coco: August 2013 15: The Pressure Mounts 16: The House on Kearny: March 2013, Laredo, Texas 17: The Interrogation 18: Revisiting a Murder Case 19: The Carnival 20: Where the Children’s Loyalty Is 21: Joaquin: Mexico City, August 1994 22: Operation Cabbage Patch: May 20, 2013 23: The Fugitive: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, July 2000 24: A Bad Day 25: The Psychological Impact on the Victims 26: Reflections 27: Problems with Strategies to Combat Human Trafficking 28: What is Next? 29: My Return Home