Petroplex News

Two men, including one from Texas, are jailed in Florida after being charged the human trafficking of teenage boys.

The boys, ages 17 and 14 and originally from Guatemala, were discovered in a vehicle stopped in Florida on Dec. 30 just over the border from Alabama, according to prosecutors.

Frank Morena, 39, of Odessa, and Jackson Perez-Godinez, 21, of Guatemala, were arrested and later charged with two counts of engaging in human trafficking for labor or servitude of a child under 18 and two counts of human smuggling, according to a release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The two teenagers said their families each paid more than $1,000 to be smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico to Texas, according to investigators from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Department agents said they believe the boys were trafficked into the United States for forced labor and were being transported to cities in central and South Florida. Each was told they would have to work to pay off additional debt, the press release states.

"The investigation began when a Santa Rosa County sheriff’s deputy stopped a vehicle for a moving violation on Interstate 10 and noted indicators of possible human trafficking," the FDLE said in the release. "The sheriff's office then contacted FDLE."

"A deputy's keen eye and immediate multiagency cooperation were instrumental in rescuing two children,” said Chris Williams, chief of investigations for FDLE Pensacola Regional Operations Center. “I'm proud of the deputies and agents who teamed to bring two human traffickers to justice.”

The pair are currently being held in the Santa Rosa County jail with a bond of $1.1 million each, according to AL.com. The case is being prosecuted by the Office of the State Attorney, First Judicial Circuit.