The prosecutor’s office formalized two people for sexual exploitation after detecting the operation of an alleged clandestine brothel in an apartment in the Bella Vista neighborhood where “there would be women in a situation of trafficking” for the purpose of sexual exploitation, reported the Ministry of the Interior.
One of the two people involved is the administrator of a “well-known website” for offering sex work, an activity that is legal in Uruguay.
However, the researchers found that the posts had the same contact number. This is a “clear indicator that possibly the women in these publications were being managed by third parties.”
“Continuing with the proceedings, it was established that these women who published on the website carried out their activity in a clandestine brothel, as well as that those investigated not only obtained an economic benefit from their sex work, but also through the imposition of economic sanctions for various reasons,” the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.
There was a modus operandi that implied the “loyalty” of the sex worker with the premises through the use of “affective ties”. “It was found that one of them had a “dating” relationship with at least three of the victims, but it became clear that this was just one more form of control, since regardless of the sentimental relationship they claimed to have, they were relentless. when it comes to maintaining the prosperity of their business, controlling the activity of women through timers so that they do not exceed customer service times and forcing them to go to work even with their menstrual period”, pointed out the Ministry of Inside.
Another strategy used by the formalized was to manipulate one of the workers to be the visible face of the business. They defined that so they could stay out of it.
After searching the place, they found two 38-caliber revolvers, nine 38-caliber ammunition, a vehicle, 15,242 pesos, three cell phones, two computer towers, a hard drive, two cameras, three timers, and lingerie.
Within the seized computer devices, a huge number of images of women who have passed through the premises over time were found. Based on this, the investigation continues to see if any of them could be a minor.
The prosecution collected testimonies from some victims who assured that men “used to use images of women regardless of whether or not they had given their consent to do so.”