POLK COUNTY, Fla. – Two people among 219 arrested in a Polk County prostitution sting now face human trafficking charges, one of them having sold sex services out of an Orlando-area hotel, according to the sheriff’s office.
Maria Guzman, 36, of Orlando, and Freddy Escalona, 30, of Chicago, face charges of human trafficking and deriving proceeds from prostitution. A total of 44 felony charges and 242 misdemeanors went out during the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.
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As described in a Polk affidavit, Guzman is accused of using the fake name “Angie” and keeping two women at an Orlando-area Super 8 hotel, selling them out as prostitutes almost daily for at least two months.
Those victims, both of them immigrants, were allegedly snared after answering an advertisement for work in construction, they told investigators. Both found themselves put in contact with “Angie” before being flown into Orlando and eventually coerced to prostitute themselves with promises of wealth, as well as out of fear for their families’ safety and deportation, investigators said.
Escalona had reportedly loaned a victim money to get a car fixed, making her engage in prostitution to pay back the loan. Given that he allegedly told detectives he had “several females that he worked,” further charges are pending against Escalona, the sheriff’s office said.
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Naming it “Operation Traffic Stop 2″ and painting the seven-day operation as human trafficking enforcement, undercover efforts began Sept. 19 and involved help from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, as well as police in Auburndale, Bartow, Davenport, Lakeland, Lake Hamilton, Lake Wales, Winter Haven and Zephyrhills, a news release describes.
Eighty-three of those arrested are accused of soliciting a prostitute, 119 were identified as prostitutes — 21 of whom were designated possible human trafficking victims — and of the remaining 17, five “were either deriving proceeds from prostitution or aiding and abetting prostitutes,” and eight had driven said prostitutes to undercover officers lying in wait, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to Sheriff Grady Judd, it’s the most arrests the sheriff’s office has ever recorded in such an operation.
“Not only did we arrest more suspects during this single operation than we have ever arrested before, we identified 21 human trafficking victims; during a similar operation in February, we identified 24 victims. That’s 45 victims we were able to identify this year,” Judd said in a statement. “The valuable relationships that we have with the social services organizations who join us in these operations make it possible for these women to get help and be emancipated from this way of life.”
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