Human trafficking victims rescued from illegal Bradenton massage parlor, FDLE says
An investigation into an “illicit massage parlor” in Manatee County led to the rescue of at least 10 human trafficking victims, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced.
Moody also announced a new Florida Human Trafficking Strike Team, which she said helped investigate prostitution rings in Manatee and Hillsborough Counties, leading to several arrests.
Moody said law enforcement officers rescued 10 victims from the alleged trafficking ring. She expects that number to increase as the investigation continues.
Mark Brutnell, a special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said the new strike force team made several arrests in the investigation.
“What we found was a fully functional, highly organized, international human trafficking operation based here in Hillsborough County and Manatee County,” Brutnell said.
According to Brutnell, more than 117 victims have been “cycled through” businesses run by Lina Payne, the alleged owner of at least two businesses in Manatee County accused of illegal sex work.
“The disturbing facts of this case highlight the need for our new statewide strike team and demonstrate how this expert team of investigators, prosecutors, analysts and victims’ advocates can help coordinate efforts to take down trafficking operations and rescue victims,” Moody said.
Human trafficking victims recovered, FDLE says
Payne, 52, would make frequent trips to Latin American countries and the majority of the victims were funneled from these areas, Brutnell said.
Investigators said Payne charged women recruited from Venezuela and Colombia between $40,000 and $50,000 to be smuggled across the border and into the United States, promising them legitimate work. Instead, detectives said these women were held in debt bondage and coerced to perform sex acts for money and pay the proceeds to Payne’s illegal business.
Payne would also often make threats of physical violence against the women and their families in other countries, while the women had no means of transportation and lived at the massage parlors, effectively cutting them off from the outside world, Brutnell said.
Detectives said those businesses included one in Bradenton, where the investigation began: Latin Relaxation on Cortez Road. The business’s website advertised face shaves and massages for $220, but investigators say customers were paying those prices for sex with human trafficking victims.
During a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the Bradenton massage parlor, an undercover detective found used condoms, envelopes full of cash and rooms filled with beds but no massage tables.
Bradenton massage parlor at center of investigation
The latest arrest came Friday when Sandra Garavito was charged with racketeering and deriving support from proceeds of prostitution, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Court records show Garavito was released the next day on bond. FDLE officials described Garavito as a “key player” in Payne’s alleged human trafficking enterprise.
Court records show a judge denied Payne’s bond at a hearing on June 10.
In May, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office also arrested Payne’s alleged accomplice, 56-year-old Karen McGlynn, who they said managed some of Lina Payne’s locations. Court records show McGlynn was released from jail on June 6.
In October, a “multi-faceted human trafficking operation” called Operation Refuge resulted in 17 arrests as part of a crackdown on local massage parlors, with one employee at Latin Relaxation being charged with deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution.
Major Todd Shear, the investigative bureau chief at the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, said he’s thankful the Latin Relaxation case expanded to involve the new strike force team, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.
“As you know, this case germinated in Manatee and if we just siloed that case to ourselves, wow, we would have missed a whole lot of victims. Wow, we would have missed a whole lot of prosecutions that needed to be done,” Shear said at the news conference.
Moody said the new strike force team is assisting local law enforcement agencies with more than 20 human trafficking cases and has made contact with around 40 human trafficking victims.
