Honduran sisters say they were forced to work in West Palm strip club
By Michael LaForgia, Palm Beach Post
1:40 p.m. EST, March 27, 2010
Two sisters from Honduras were smuggled into Palm Beach County and forced to work in nightclubs as dancers and prostitutes, federal agents said today.
The sisters told FBI agents they agreed to pay a woman named Veronica Martinez $3,000 each for their passage to Florida.
But when they got here, Martinez raised the price to $12,000 and forced them "to dance, drink and be fondled by customers" at two Palm Beach County night clubs to pay off the debt, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit for Martinez' arrest.
She also forced the sisters into a West Palm Beach trailer and made the women have sex with nightclub patrons, the agent said.
The sisters, identified as E.M. and L.M., told the FBI Martinez threatened to have them deported or to harm their mother in Honduras if they didn't follow her orders, the agent said.
More:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/fl-prostitution-palm-20100327,0,6736542.story