NAPLES DAILY NEWS

August 17, 2005

Lee Sheriff's Office busts alleged Fort Myers brothel

By ANNE MARIE APOLLO

In a case Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy says "has overtones of human trafficking," authorities Monday arrested a Fort Myers woman on charges she harbored illegal immigrants.

According to an affidavit that led to the issuance of an arrest warrant for Amparo Altagracia Montas Hernandez, 44, authorities have been watching the Fort Myers woman and her associates since 2001, when a tipster told them she was having a "coyote" bring her teenage girls from across the border, then forcing the women to pay off the debt by working for her as prostitutes.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office on Sunday busted a brothel on South Galaxy Drive in Fort Myers they say Montas Hernandez was running with the help of a man they believe is her son, Eddy Vasquez, 28.

Both are charged with concealing and harboring people who entered the United States in violation of the law.

Vasquez remained at large Tuesday night. Montas Hernandez was released on $50,000 bond.

Two prostitutes and an "enforcer," all illegal immigrants from Mexico, were taken into custody Sunday at 4973 South Galaxy Drive, according to the affidavit in the case. Molloy said they will be held as material witnesses.

The women, who both were 23, told authorities they were in the house of their own free will, but Molloy and others say the conditions the women were enduring were questionable.

Lee County Sheriff's Office Sgt. J.D. Loethen said despite the women's denials, an investigation continues into what was happening at the home, a trailer on a gravel driveway just outside the city limits of Fort Myers.

Women in such enterprises are moved around frequently, even weekly, Loethen said. Had investigators arrived on a different night, they might have heard a different story, he said.

"We're going after the root of human trafficking where it flourishes, which is in the brothels," he said. "Why should we wait for a victim to come to us? Don't we have an obligation to go to the victim?"

Sheriff's Office deputies in March raided a suspected brothel in Bonita Springs, saying it potentially had ties to human trafficking, but later backed away from that allegation. A prostitution case stemming from arrests made there was dropped.

Anna Rodriguez, a victim advocate who works closely with the Lee County Sheriff's Office and an expert in human trafficking, said brothels should continue to be a target for authorities hoping to find women being held as sex slaves, even if it does not always result in a trafficking arrest.

"This sends a message," Rodriguez said. "Sooner or later, we're going to hit a trafficking victim."

FBI agent Jim Roncinske said in an affidavit signed Monday before U.S. Magistrate Sheri Polster Chappell that after watching the South Galaxy Drive address for just over an hour Sunday, he witnessed 30 men enter and leave, each staying less than 20 minutes.

According to the document, which spells out the case against the pair, men leaving the house who were interviewed by Lee County Sheriff's Office deputies said they were visiting prostitutes. They told deputies they paid at the door, then received a playing card that the prostitute accepted before sexual relations.

According to the affidavit, in past prostitution rings run by Montas Hernandez investigated by the FBI, clients paid $21 for 15 minutes with a girl. The house and prostitute split the $20. The $1 went for a condom each man was required to buy and use, according to the document.

A tipster who told investigators he had formerly been involved in brothels in Southwest Florida first brought Montas Hernandez and her associates to the attention of the FBI in 2001, offering specific details of the enterprise, according to the affidavit.

Teenage girls were being brought into Naples, Immokalee, Bonita Springs and to locations out of state to provide sexual services to Hispanic migrant workers and laborers, the informant told investigators.

Coyotes brought the girls in at no charge, the tipster said, and delivered them to Montas Hernandez, who made them work at houses of prostitution to work off their debt, according to the affidavit.

The accusations eventually led the FBI, Sheriff's Office and immigration officials in October to raid a house at 503 Prospect Ave. in Fort Myers, where they found several women who claimed to be prostitutes working for Montas Hernandez, also known as "Iris," and a man believed by authorities to be her husband, Abel Zapata-Hernandez.

Five months later, the Fort Myers Police Department raided another property, 646 Prospect Ave., and found a similar scenario, according to the affidavit.

Officers took Zapata-Hernandez into custody on drug and prostitution charges. According to the affidavit, he is in the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service.

Informants, though, told investigators "Iris" was still running brothels, particularly one on South Galaxy Drive.

Authorities have visited the address twice, according to the affidavit.

In November a Lee County sheriff's deputy responding to a report of prostitution activity at the home found women with playing cards and condoms, but all claiming not to speak English.

Sunday, the Sheriff's Office was back again, this time with a warrant.

According to Lee County Property Appraiser records, the property is owned by Willie Feliciano of Lehigh Acres. He told investigators he leased it to Eddy Vasquez for the past four years. A woman answering the phone at Feliciano's address Tuesday declined to comment.

The harboring charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine, Molloy said.

It is possible more charges could be filed in the case, Molloy said. Witnesses have indicated more brothels may be involved, he said.

While initial indications did not show that the women involved from South Galaxy Drive were forced to work there, Rodriguez said Tuesday she had hoped to interview them soon.

Victims of traffickers frequently are reluctant to come forward, rendered silent by threats and intimidation, she said.

Time will reveal if they were truly prostitutes of their own free will, she added.