MIAMI, United States. – A couple forced eight Cuban women to perform commercial sex acts at clubs in Pinellas and Hillsborough after bringing them to the United States, according to a diary note Tampa Bay Times which quotes Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister.
Chronister and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced the couple’s arrest at a news conference Monday.
Amet Roman Maqueira of La Cal, 34, and Rosalía Leonard García, 29, were arrested Thursday on 47 charges related to human trafficking, illegal imprisonment, prostitution, illegal use of a two-way device, sexual assault and drug trafficking. people.
According to Chronister, the Sheriff’s Office received notice that a Cuban woman had been brought to the United States illegally of her own free will. However, as part of the deal, the Cuban woman owed her traffickers $60,000. To pay off the debt, she was told that she would have to make commercial sex acts.
As part of their investigation, detectives discovered seven other women caught up in the same scheme.
The women, aged 18 to 24, were threatened with violence against them and their families if they did not comply. For that reason, they were forced to work at various “adult entertainment clubs” in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, according to Chronister.
The pair of smugglers also withheld the identity cards, cell phones and personal documents of the women, who handed over directly to the smugglers all the money they earned, according to the sheriff.
The Sheriff’s Office came to check two properties where eight women in total were detained. According to Chronister, five women shared one room and the other three shared another. None of the rooms had light and all the women shared a bathroom.
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